WORK AND PENSIONS

Disability Living Allowance: Care Homes

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent representations he has received on his proposal not to pay the mobility component of disability living allowance to young people in residential care; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Miller: We have received a number of representations on the withdrawal of the mobility component of disability allowance for people in residential care, in the form of parliamentary questions and correspondence. There was also an adjournment debate on the subject on 30 November 2010
	We have encouraged disabled people and their representatives to put forward their views on this proposal as part of the wider DLA reform consultation document, which was published on 6 December 2010 and will finish on 14 February 2011.

Housing Benefit: Bromsgrove

Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2010,  Official Report, column 1079W, on housing benefit: Worcestershire, how many people in Bromsgrove were in receipt of housing benefit of more than £400 per week in the latest period for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: As at September 2010, there were no claimants receiving more than £400 per week in housing benefit in Bromsgrove.

Multiple Occupation: Ayrshire and Arran

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of multi-occupancy lets of each type of tenure in North Ayrshire and Arran constituency.

Steve Webb: This information is not available.

Pensions

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimates he has made of the average size of an individual's pension pot.

Steve Webb: Estimates of median pension wealth held in defined contribution (DC) occupational pensions by an employee who is a member and contributing to the scheme in 2006-08, by age:
	
		
			  £ 
			  Age  Median( 1)  Mean( 1) 
			 16-24 1,300 2,800 
			 25-34 4,000 15,300 
			 35-44 7,000 22,600 
			 45-54 10,000 35,900 
			 55-64 12,000 46,000 
			 For all aged 16 and above 6,500 26,200 
			 (1) Excludes those with zero pension wealth.  Notes: 1. We interpreted the question's mention of pension pots as a reference to DC pension wealth and therefore provided figures in that context. The estimates quoted reflect DC pension wealth held by employees who are currently contributing to DC occupational pension schemes. These estimates may include DC pension wealth held in more than one pot. They exclude those individuals with zero pension wealth. 2. We provide figures for both mean and median DC occupational pension wealth. The median may provide a better measure compared to the mean since the distribution of private pension wealth can be skewed by a small number of very large amounts of wealth at the top of the distribution. 3. The Wealth and Assets survey (WAS) is a large scale nationally representative longitudinal survey of over 30,000 private households in Great Britain that provides comprehensive information on people's assets and net wealth. 4. The first wave was conducted from July 2006 to June 2008. It collected detailed information on financial and non-financial assets, wealth components such as savings, pensions, property, mortgages and debt as well as people's attitudes and savings behaviour over time. 5. A copy of the "Wealth in Great Britain 2006/08" using the Wealth and Assets data is available at the following web link: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/wealth-assets-2006-2008/Wealth_in_GB_2006_2008.pdf  Source: Wealth and Assets Survey 2006/08

Sky Lanterns: Safety

Rebecca Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment his Department has made of the  (a) fire and  (b) public health risks of sky lanterns; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: I have been asked to reply.
	This Department and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have had several meetings to discuss the safety issues of sky lanterns. Reports on behalf of Norfolk Trading Standards by the Health and Safety Laboratory and a report by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority both assessed that high quality lanterns when used according to instructions were generally safe in relation to fire safety. BIS and DEFRA continue to work with Trading Standards and other interested parties to gather evidence and monitor the situation.

Tax Credit

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the potential effects on employment levels of the planned increase in the tax credit taper rate.

Justine Greening: I have been asked to reply.
	The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was formed in May 2010 to make an independent assessment of the public finances and the economy. On 29 November 2010, the OBR released the official forecast for total employment and general Government employment. The forecast includes the impacts of quantifiable tax and expenditure measures that were announced at the time of the June Budget.
	The change to the tax credits taper rate should be considered alongside changes in the personal allowance. The personal allowance for under 65s will be increased by £1,000 to £7,475 in 2011-12. This will remove 880,000 low income tax payers from tax altogether and 23 million taxpayers will benefit by up to £170 each per year.

Work Capability Assessment

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will defer implementation of the Employment and Support Allowance (Limited Capability for Work and Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity) Amendment Regulations 2011 until he has received recommendations from  (a) Mind,  (b) Mencap and  (c) the National Autistic Society on the mental, intellectual and cognitive descriptors for the work capability assessment.

Chris Grayling: We believe that the principles of the work capability assessment (WCA) are right, but that the system which we inherited contained some flaws that risked undermining its effectiveness. We have therefore moved swiftly to put those right.
	We welcome the first independent review of the WCA, led by Professor Malcolm Harrington. We are committed to taking forward the review's recommendations so that we can make the system fairer and more effective. The Government response to Professor Harrington's review sets out how and when we will implement the recommendations of the review, the majority of which will be in place in time for the national roll-out of the incapacity benefits reassessment programme.
	We are grateful to Professor Harrington who has agreed to take forward the next annual review of the WCA. He will start work immediately on the programme of work he has identified, to look in detail at the descriptors for mental health and other fluctuating conditions. We look forward to receiving the results of this work. We are committed to a process of ongoing review and improvement of the WCA and believe that it would be inappropriate to delay implementation of other pertinent recommendations while we await additional recommendations.

Work Capability Assessment

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of implementation of the Employment and Support Allowance (Limited Capability for Work and Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity) Amendment Regulations 2011.

Maria Miller: An impact assessment for these regulations, including an assessment of the cost to the Exchequer, will be published when the regulations are laid.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Westminster Abbey: Fees and Charges

Matthew Offord: To ask the hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, if the Church Commission will take steps to assess the affordability of the admission charge to visit Westminster Abbey in comparison to other attractions in London.

Tony Baldry: As a Royal Peculiar Westminster Abbey does not come under jurisdiction of the Church Commissioners. The hon. Member may therefore wish to direct his query about the affordability of admission charges to the Receiver General of Westminster Abbey.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

IPSA: Liaison Group

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Leader of the House what progress has been made on the creation of a liaison group between hon. Members and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

George Young: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart) today:
	My hon. Friend will have heard Mr Speaker's statement yesterday on this matter. I welcome this initiative and understand that the Liaison Group will meet soon.

Petitions

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Leader of the House what recent progress he has made on the Government's plans to link petitions to debates in the House.

George Young: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Deputy Leader of the House today to my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Jake Berry):
	The Government will move the online petition system to the DirectGov portal soon, certainly before the summer.
	Officials are currently working on an effective verification system to ensure that petitions becomes a useful tool for engaging with Government, rather than the gimmicky system of the previous Government's petition site.

Adjournment Debates

Paul Uppal: To ask the Leader of the House what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the format of the pre-adjournment debate held on 21 December 2010.

George Young: I welcome the decision by the Committee to retain the pre-recess adjournment debate, and the innovative format which allowed 45 hon. Members to contribute, almost twice as many as the previous year's debate.
	I am keen to work closely with the Backbench Business Committee and the Procedure Committee on innovations to the working of the House.

Private Members' Bills

Peter Bone: To ask the Leader of the House if he will make provision for sitting days for the consideration of Private Members' Bills in the 2010-11 session beyond the number set out in Standing Orders commensurate with the expected length of the session.

George Young: I will bring forward proposals for consideration by the House in due course. Extra provision should be made for the consideration of Private Members Bills in light of the length of the session.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Domestic Violence

Lyn Brown: To ask the Attorney-General what recent discussions he has had with the Director of Public Prosecutions on the Crown Prosecution Service's performance in the prosecution of cases involving allegations of domestic violence.

Dominic Grieve: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 18 January 2010,  Official Report, columns 693-94, to the oral questions from the hon. Members for Liverpool, Wavertree (Luciana Berger) and Luton South (Gavin Shuker).

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Departmental Pay

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what information she holds on the number of sub-contracted staff servicing the Government Equalities Office who were not paid at a rate equivalent to or above the London living wage in the latest period for which figures are available.

Lynne Featherstone: All sub-contracted staff servicing the Government Equalities Office were paid at a rate equal to or above the London living wage.

WALES

Departmental Press Releases

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on how many occasions her Department has provided embargoed media briefings prior to an oral statement to the House since 26 May 2010; in respect of how many such briefings her Department was informed that the embargo had been breached; what steps were taken as a result of each such breach; and on how many occasions her Department has provided media briefings without an embargo prior to an oral statement to the House since 26 May 2010.

David Jones: None.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Agriculture: Research

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding his Department has allocated to agricultural research and development in the last five years; and how much such funding he plans to allocate in each of the next four financial years.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) has provided the following centrally funded expenditure for agricultural research and bilateral expenditure for agricultural development in the last five financial years.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Agricultural research  Agricultural development 
			 2005-06 35.6 99.3 
			 2006-07 35.3 118.9 
			 2007-08 38.3 136.9 
			 2008-09 42.2 180.5 
			 2009-10 65.1 171.4 
		
	
	Decisions have not been finalised on future funding to agricultural research. Parliament will be notified once this has been agreed. Support for agricultural development from our bilateral programme will be decided upon the conclusion of the ongoing bilateral and multilateral aid reviews.

Burma: Asylum

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with non-governmental organisations working on the Thai-Burmese border on  (a) numbers and  (b) treatment of Burmese refugees; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Duncan: UK Government officials in Bangkok are in close contact with the Thailand Burma Border Consortium and other NGOs working on the Thai-Burma border. We are concerned by reports that thousands of new refugees have crossed the Thai-Burma border since November to escape the fighting in east Burma, and reports that some of these have been encouraged to return to Burma by the Thai authorities. The British ambassador to Thailand and Department for International Development (DFID) officials visited the Thai side of the border on 17 January 2011. They raised these concerns with the local military and civilian authorities, and pressed them to treat all those who have crossed into Thailand seeking refuge in accordance with international law and international standards.
	DFID is providing about £1.6 million this financial year for food, housing, other supplies and improved access to legal assistance for the 146,000 Burmese refugees living in camps in Thailand.

Departmental Working Conditions

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his Department's policy is on  (a) the space provided per employee,  (b) home working and  (c) hot desking; how many employees it has on average per desk; and how much space on average there is per employee.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not have a formal policy on the space provided per employee. DFID provides a working environment which values and nurtures a diverse work force and allows staff to work a range of alternative working patterns. According to the latest benchmarking report produced by the Government Property Unit, in 2009-10 DFID's UK estate was occupied at 15.2 square metres per person and there were 0.9 workstations per person.
	In order to use our UK estate more efficiently, we are currently planning the reorganisation of our London headquarters. Staff will work at 'hot desks' provided at a ratio of 7 desks per 10 staff. This reorganisation should result in an occupancy level in this building of around 11.4 square metres per person.

Food Aid

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his policy is on levels of global food production.

Alan Duncan: Global food production will need to increase in order to feed an extra two billion people by 2050. This will be hugely challenging for the global food system. The Department for International Development (DFID) is helping address that challenge in a range of ways, such as funding research into improved agriculture technologies; working with other G20 countries to reduce the vulnerability of poor people to food price volatility; and supporting the governments of food insecure countries such as Bangladesh and Ethiopia to improve the nutritional status of women and girls.

Sudan: Referendums

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what reports he has received of humanitarian issues arising from large-scale population movements following the recent referendum in Sudan.

Andrew Mitchell: According to reporting by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the total number of returnees from the north to the south of Sudan over the last 11 weeks has been 182,446. A further 21,186 are awaiting transportation south from Khartoum, with a current average rate of return of 1,500 to 2,000 people per week. There have been instances of harassment of convoys, but the two parties agreed a framework to provide greater security along key routes on 17 January 2011. The UN will monitor compliance.
	People returning home are often households headed by women, with several children, as male breadwinners remain in Khartoum for the time being. Some transit camps have been congested by delays in onward transportation, but this situation is easing. Needs in these camps include clean water, food, shelter, and addressing issues such as the separation of families, especially children from parents.
	On return, southerners are entitled to assistance packages of food, seeds, tools and other essential items for three months. The UK is working with the Government of Southern Sudan, the UN and other partners to start to address the longer term integration and livelihoods needs of the returnees.

SCOTLAND

Students: Fees and charges

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the Barnett formula.

David Mundell: The Secretary of State for Scotland and I have regular discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on a range of issues. The UK Government recognise that concerns have been expressed about the current system of devolution funding whereby changes to the block grant are calculated by the Barnett formula, but the UK Government's priority is to reduce the deficit and they do not have any plans to change arrangements before the stabilisation of the public finances.

TRANSPORT

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Accidents

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many traffic accidents have been recorded at the Dartford crossing in each of the last eight years.

Michael Penning: Accidents are recorded using Stats 19 (Police) Data and includes all collisions where injuries are reported. Using validated Stats 19 Data, the recorded collisions for the A282 (which includes the Dartford Crossing) for the last eight years is:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2002 95 
			 2003 74 
			 2004 81 
			 2005 79 
			 2006 66 
			 2007 73 
			 2008 63 
			 2009 66 
		
	
	Validated and published Stats 19 Data are currently only available up to 2009.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Tolls

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the additional toll revenues accruing at the Dartford Crossing attributable to the 2012 Olympics.

Michael Penning: The Department for Transport has made no estimates of additional road user charge receipts at the Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing during the 2012 Olympic Games.
	Significant increases in traffic volumes at this crossing are not anticipated as the transport strategy for the 2012 Games promotes the use of public transport.
	The Highways Agency is working closely with the Olympic Delivery Authority on the delivery of that strategy. The plans for spectator transport include the provision of park and ride sites either side of the crossing (that at Bluewater providing a shuttle to the nearby Javelin rail shuttle from Ebbsfleet station).
	The crossing forms part of the 'alternative' section of the Olympic Route Network-that is routes which will used by vehicles transporting athletes, officials, media etc. in the event that the main core and venue routes (e.g. the A13) are not available for any reason. HA and ODA will be considering proposals to assist these movements through the crossing over the coming months.

Freight Facilities Grant: Scotland

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has had recent discussions with the Scottish Executive on the abolition of the Freight Facilities Grants scheme from March 2011.

Michael Penning: No recent discussions have taken place with the Scottish Executive on its abolition of the Freight Facilities Grant in Scotland from March 2011. In Scotland this is the responsibility of the Scottish Government.

Large Goods Vehicles: Excise Duties

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 27 October 2010,  Official Report, column 348W, on large goods vehicles: excise duties, what progress has been made on the introduction of HGV road user charging; and by what date he expects a scheme to be operational.

Michael Penning: As set out in the Department for Transport business plan 2011-15, we intend to introduce primary legislation for HGV road user charging in May 2012, with the proposed scheme coming into operation in April 2014. Officials are currently developing the details of an effective charging scheme which represents value for money and are preparing draft legislation. We expect to consult formally later this year.

Motor Vehicles: Registration

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to bring forward proposals to register commercial vehicle trailers for the purposes of reducing the incidence of theft or misuse of such trailers.

Michael Penning: The Government have no plans to register commercial vehicle trailers.

Network Rail: Pay

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information his Department holds about the benefits the board members and senior management of Network Rail receive in addition to basic salary or fees.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 17 January 2011
	Network Rail is a private sector company. Information about the remuneration of its board members and senior management is set out in Network Rail's annual reports and accounts, which are available on the company's website:
	www.networkrail.co.uk

Network Rail: Pay

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  if he will bring forward proposals to bring the setting of  (a) the salary of the acting chief executive of Network Rail and  (b) the fees of the current Chairman of Network Rail within his responsibility;
	(2)  if he will bring forward proposals to bring the award of free travel to  (a) current employees,  (b) former employees and  (c) board members of Network Rail within his responsibility;
	(3)  if he will bring forward proposals to place the benefits received by the  (a) executive board members,  (b) non-executive board members,  (c) senior management,  (d) acting chief executive and  (e) chairman of Network Rail within his responsibility.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 17 January 2011
	 Network Rail is a private sector company. Decisions on the remuneration of its staff are matters for the company, in which the Government have no powers to intervene.
	Under a condition of its network licence Network Rail is required to maintain a management incentive plan, which is used to determine the remuneration of the company's senior executives. This must be submitted to the independent Office of Rail Regulation for approval or amendment.
	The Government welcomed the announcement that Network Rail has suspended its management incentive plan pending a joint review with the Office of Rail Regulation. This review must be fundamental and far-reaching. Any future incentive system should be more transparent and based on the principle that bonuses are not an automatic right, but should focus on rewarding exceptional long-term performance.

Railways: Construction

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to publish the consultation criteria for High Speed Two.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 18 January 2011
	I have previously made clear that the forthcoming consultation will cover both the Government's overall strategy for high speed rail and the line of route for the initial phase, between London and the west midlands. The consultation questions will be published at the launch of the consultation.

Railways: Construction

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department plans to make an assessment of economic and environmental benefits to the UK of the extension of the high speed rail network into Scotland.

Philip Hammond: The Government support a truly national high speed rail network, but recognise that this will need to be delivered in phases. While the development of high speed rail lines in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Government we are happy to work with it on its ambitions. In its report of December 2009, HS2 Ltd assessed several options for networks incorporating links to Scotland. Its conclusions are set out in chapter 6 of this report.

Railways: Construction

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to begin consideration of route options for the extension of the high speed rail network north of Birmingham.

Philip Hammond: High Speed Two Ltd is currently developing route proposals for the legs from Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester and will provide advice to me by the end of the year.

Railways: Disability

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the  (a) adequacy of and  (b) consistency in support available to disabled rail passengers across the rail network.

Norman Baker: Assessment of the adequacy and consistency of services provided to rail passengers is primarily a matter for Passenger Focus and the Office of Rail Regulation. However, we expect all rail service providers to meet their duties under the Equality Act 2010, and the commitments in their Disabled People's Protection Policy, and to make all reasonable endeavours to meet the needs of their passengers.

Railways: Disability

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the support available to disabled rail passengers who choose to travel at short notice.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport has not carried out an assessment of the support available to disabled rail passengers who choose to travel at short notice. However, we expect all rail operators to meet the commitments in their Disabled People's Protection Policy, as well as their duties under the Equality Act 2010, and to make all reasonable endeavours to meet the needs of their disabled passengers.
	We recognise that rail operators are better able to plan their resources to meet passengers needs if assistance is booked in advance using the Assisted Passenger Reservation System. The Department for Transport has agreed to provide funding to the Association of Train Operators to improve the arrangements in place for assistance bookings. We expect trials of the new system to start during 2011.

Railways: Disability

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the findings of the Passenger Focus report on the Assisted Passenger Reservation System.

Norman Baker: We note the findings of the report with interest. Overall, it reflects well on the efforts of front line rail staff, with overall customer satisfaction having increased from 69% 71% since the last survey in 2008. However it also shows that the assistance booked matched the assistance actually provided in just 47% of cases and therefore demonstrates that the current Assisted Passenger Reservation System needs to improve.
	That is why the Department for Transport has agreed to provide funding to the Association of Train Operating Companies to put in place a new system for assistance bookings. We expect trials of the new system to start during 2011.

Railways: Disability

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the likely effect on support for disabled rail passengers of the ending of the Disabled Persons Advisory Committee.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport's proposals have been through a preliminary impact assessment process, including an equalities impact assessment. Full impact assessment documents will be published as part of the consultation process in the coming months.

Railways: Disability

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will undertake an equality impact assessment of the effects on  (a) disabled rail passengers and  (b) other disabled users of transport services of the abolition of the Disabled Persons Advisory Committee.

Norman Baker: Yes. Full impact assessment documents will be published as part of the consultation process in the coming months.

Railways: Disability

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will assess the adequacy of training offered to rail staff to support disabled passengers.

Norman Baker: The training of rail staff is a matter for train operators: not the Department for Transport. However, the Department does require that all staff receive relevant disability awareness training as part of an operator's Disabled People's Protection Policy, which is a condition of their operating licence.

Railways: Snow and Ice

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to revise his Department's guidance to local authorities on transport infrastructure in the light of the recent severe weather conditions; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Baker: The Secretary of State for Transport, with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, wrote on 12 November 2010 to the leaders of all English local authorities. This letter advised on the measures the Government have taken to implement the recommendations following David Quarmby's independent review on winter resilience, published in October 2010, and drew attention to the recommendations in the review panel's report which were addressed to local authorities to take forward.
	I wrote to leaders of all local highway authorities in England on 15 December 2010 and emphasised the importance of working together to keep our transport network moving given the early onset of severe weather this winter.
	I reminded them of the guidance produced by the Department with the UK Roads Liaison Group (UKRLG) on the range of actions that can be taken with regards to winter service and measures to ensure that salt stocks last longer.
	On 24 December, officials from the Department for Transport wrote to the chief executives of all local highway authorities highlighting the conclusions and recommendations of David Quarmby's further independent audit published on 21 December 2010. This audit looked at how well the transport system coped following the extreme weather which occurred between 24 November and 9 December last year.
	This letter also attached further technical guidance in relation to spread rates for salt, as recommended by David Quarmby. It also stressed the importance of local authorities implementing the recommendations from David Quarmby's October report and December audit, including reviewing their own winter service plans and operations accordingly against best practice.
	My Department will continue to work throughout the year with the local government sector to ensure that we continue to further improve resilience for future winters. This may include updating and providing further guidance if required.

Rescue Services

Therese Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents required intervention from a HM Coastguard station in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10.

Michael Penning: Coastguard record keeping continues to be affected by industrial action short of a strike. This means that incident records may not be completely accurate and it is not possible to give a figure for the number of incidents that were handled in 2008-09.
	In 2009-10, just over 21,000 incidents were recorded within the UK search and rescue region.

Rescue Services

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 December 2010,  Official Report, columns 133-4WS, on coastguard services (modernisation), what the latest technologies referred to are; and how the proposed new system will operate.

Michael Penning: holding answer 18 January 2011
	The technologies referred to in the proposals for the modernisation of HM Coastguard are the latest version of existing technology currently installed in the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres. The proposals seek to fully exploit functionality, such as geographic information systems and mapping, that is currently not used by HM Coastguard but is already used elsewhere by other emergency services.
	This technology covers functions such as incident command and control, information management, search planning, vessel traffic monitoring as well as radio and telephone communications.
	Chapter 3 of the consultation document 'Protecting our Seas and Shores in the 21 Century', published on 16 December 2010, outlines how the proposed new nationally networked system will operate.
	Copies of the consultation have been placed in the Libraries of the House and are available on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's website at:
	www.mcga.gov.uk

Rescue Services

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he made of the likely effects of the proposed coastguard station closures announced on 16 December 2010.

Michael Penning: The proposals for the selection of stations to remain open has been undertaken to identify the most suitable locations to provide the best service to the seafarer, coastal communities and provide value for money. This is outlined on pages 22 and 23 in the consultation document "Protecting our Seas and Shores in the 21(st) Century".
	Copies of the consultation have been placed in the Libraries of the House and are available on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's website:
	www.mcga.gov.uk

Roads: Safety Barriers

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research his Department has undertaken on the cost-effectiveness of concrete central reservation barriers compared with metal barriers; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Penning: A whole life cost study was carried out by the Highways Agency in 2004. The report, entitled "Whole Life Cost Analysis for Median Safety Barriers", led to the decision by the Highways Agency to introduce the policy for concrete barriers in the central reserve on motorways. The policy was implemented by an Interim Advice Note IAN 60/05 in January 2005. This policy was taken forward as a full standard in TD 19/06, the Requirements for Road Restraint Systems, in April 2007 and included in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges. I am placing copies of these documents in the Libraries of the House.

Roads: Snow and Ice

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will allocate additional funding to (a) local authorities and  (b) the Welsh Assembly Government for repair of pot holes attributable to recent severe snowfalls.

Norman Baker: The Government have already committed to providing over £3 billion of capital to local authorities in England for road maintenance over the next four years, reflecting the economic and social importance of local roads.
	The funding of road maintenance in Wales is a devolved matter and therefore the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly Government. The Welsh Assembly Government receive funding through a block grant from HM Treasury and are able to determine the allocation of public expenditure between the services under their control.

Roads: Snow and Ice

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration he has given to the use of Heavy Rescue Partnership vehicles to keep major roads open during severe weather.

Michael Penning: The Secretary of State for Transport has not given any consideration to the use of Heavy Rescue Partnership vehicles as the Highways Agency have their own National Vehicle Recovery Manager contract in place for the motorway network.
	The Highways Agency's National Vehicle Recovery Manager Contract reflects the geographical Strategic Road Network (SRN) coverage of the Traffic Officer Service (TOS). All other parts of the SRN are covered by recovery contracts managed by the Police. On these roads, the Police use their own statutory powers and contracts to manage the recovery of vehicles.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Local Television

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps he has taken to promote the development of local television services.

Jeremy Hunt: This week I published a Local Media Action Plan, inviting expressions of interest from organisations interested in bidding for a new network channel that will host local TV services. The plan also invites views from industry and the public that will help shape the commercial, technical and content model for local TV.

Tourism: North East

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps he plans to take to support the development of the tourism industry in the North East; and if he will make a statement.

John Penrose: The Government will invest almost £130 million from 2011-12 to 2014-15 in promoting tourism across the country through VisitBritain and VisitEngland. The North East remains an important part of our tourism offer and its destinations will benefit from this effort.

Football Governance

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what plans he has to bring forward proposals on football governance; and if he will make a statement.

Hugh Robertson: In line with the commitment in the Government's coalition agreement, I am in discussion with the football authorities on what more they can do to bring about further governance reform and a greater involvement for supporters in their local clubs. I hope to be able to set out the way forward in these areas by May.
	I will be taking a close interest in the inquiry that the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee are conducting on this issue and look forward to responding to their recommendations in due course.

Participation in Sport: Young People

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the effect on national sporting performance at elite level of levels of participation in sport among young people.

Hugh Robertson: National sporting performance at elite level is dependent upon the talent pathways that the national governing bodies of sport put in place. The Government are committed to working with governing bodies to improve talent pathways, particularly through the Whole Sport Plans introduced by Sport England.

Sport: CSR

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the effects of the outcome of the comprehensive spending review on his Department's levels of financial support for sport.

Hugh Robertson: In common with other Departments, this was a tough comprehensive spending review for the Department. However, as a result of the Government's changes to the national lottery, UK Sport had its funding confirmed for the remainder of the London 2012 cycle and a similar level of funding available for the start of the Rio cycle. Sport England, after a small fall in 2011-12, sees its funding rise by 14% over the spending review period.

British Sky Broadcasting

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  when he received the report from Ofcom on the regulatory issues connected with the takeover of BSkyB;
	(2)  whether he has had discussions with the Competition Commission on the procedure for referral of bids for the takeover of media companies;
	(3)  what meetings he has had with  (a) employees,  (b) directors and  (c) executives of (i) BSkyB and (ii) News Corporation since his appointment; and what the (A) dates and (B) locations of such meetings were.

Simon Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what discussions  (a) he,  (b) Ministers and  (c) officials in his Department have had with representatives of BSkyB and News Corporation on the proposed takeover of BSkyB by News Corporation;
	(2)  whether  (a) he,  (b) Ministers and  (c) officials in his Department have scheduled meetings with representatives of BSkyB and News Corporation on the proposed takeover of BSkyB by News Corporation.

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he plans to publish the Ofcom report on the takeover of BSkyB by News Corporation.

Jeremy Hunt: On 31 December 2010 I received Ofcom's report on the public interest issues relating to the News Corporation's proposed acquisition of BSkyB. In taking my decision about whether to refer this proposed acquisition to the Competition Commission, I will take as much time as necessary to carefully consider all the relevant information so that I am able to come to a fully considered decision. In view of the commercial sensitivity of the process and the need to preserve legitimate confidentiality, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on every stage of the process. I will publish Ofcom's report with commercially sensitive information redacted. I have not taken a final decision about when to publish, but I have a duty to publish the report before or at the time of the announcement of my decision. I am committed to reaching my decision in a fair and even-handed way, and am satisfied that the decision-making process will ensure all concerns are properly considered.

British Sky Broadcasting

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many organisations and individuals responded to the Ofcom consultation on News Corporation and BSkyB; how many such responses were opposed to the News Corporation acquisition of BSkyB shares; and if he will place in the Library a copy of each response to the consultation.

Jeremy Hunt: I will publish Ofcom's report, with commercially sensitive and confidential information redacted, before or at the time of the announcement of my decision on whether to refer this proposed acquisition to the Competition Commission. Ofcom's published report will include a summary of the non-confidential representations.

Internet

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the number of households without access to the internet in rural communities in England over each of the next five years.

Edward Vaizey: The internet is accessible via dial-up, but Broadband Delivery UK estimate that 13% or 0.57 million households in England where the population is no greater than 10,000 people have a broadband connection capable of less than 0.5Mbps.
	No estimate has been made of the rate of reduction up to 2015, but the Government are committed to bringing broadband access to all those without a basic level of connectivity by 2015.

News Corporation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what discussions he plans to have with News Corporation on its proposed takeover of BSkyB.

Jeremy Hunt: In view of the commercial sensitivity of the process and the need to preserve legitimate confidentiality, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on every stage of the process. However, when I have made my decision I will publish full information about the process, including details of which organisations I met at which stages.

Olympic Games 2012

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the potential legacy for Newport of the London 2012 Olympics.

Hugh Robertson: Wales and the whole of the UK are already benefiting from the economic, sporting and cultural opportunities generated by the 2012 Games, with 490 schools and colleges in Wales already registered as part of the London 2012 education programme 'Get Set'.
	In addition, 10 businesses registered in Wales have won work directly supplying the Olympic Delivery Authority and many other businesses based in Wales have secured contracts to supply goods or services within the London 2012 supply chain including two companies based in Newport, Rowecord Holdings and Premier Forest Products Ltd. I am sure that you would join me in congratulating these companies on securing London 2012 contracts.

Public Libraries

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what his policy is on the future of public libraries; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The Government are committed champions of public libraries and their value, not just in encouraging reading, but as the hub of local communities. They are places which can be used by anyone in order to learn, read, access information or get online.
	The Government continue to drive the improvement and development of public library services through the Future Libraries Programme. The programme was announced in July and is led by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the Local Government Association. They will support over 30 authorities participating in the programme to explore options that will help them to deliver the front line services communities want and need more efficiently. Learning from the 10 pilot projects will be shared widely to support non-participating authorities to deliver their services more efficiently too.
	We continue to monitor proposals about changes to library services being made by local authorities across England and we take our duty to superintend the delivery of services, including any reduction in programmes, very seriously.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Departmental Art Works

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many pieces of artwork his Department has moved since May 2010.

Bob Neill: The artwork on display in ministerial offices and in some communal areas of the Department is on loan from the Government Art Collection.
	Since May 2010, 34 pieces of art have been returned to the Government Art Collection and 24 pieces have been installed. A list of the items installed were published on my Department's website on 14 September 2010.

Departmental Redundancy

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what provision was made for the cost of redundancies in his Department's Comprehensive Spending Review 2010 settlement letter.

Bob Neill: All pressures on Departments' budgets were taken into account as part of the spending review and settlements were allocated accordingly. The full costs of redundancies will be met from within DCLG's spending review resource departmental expenditure limit settlement.

Departmental Redundancy

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in his Department have been made redundant since May 2010.

Bob Neill: Since May 2010 no staff in the Department for Communities and Local Government have been made compulsory redundant. There were no voluntary redundancies throughout this period although 12 staff took flexible early severance under a voluntary scheme.

Departmental Senior Civil Servants

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which senior Civil Service staff have left his Department since May 2010; and what  (a) contractual and  (b) non-contractual payments were made by his Department in each case.

Bob Neill: The number of senior civil service (SCS) staff who have left the Department from 1 May to 31 December 2010 is 13. Five contractual payments totalling £477,764 were made to leavers who left under DCLG's flexible early severance and approved early retirement schemes. No non-contractual payments were made. Actual amounts have not been included in this response as this constitutes personal information. The Government have recently reformed the Civil Service Compensation Scheme to set a cap on payments to high earners.

Departmental Working Conditions

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his Department's policy is on  (a) the space provided per employee,  (b) home working and  (c) hot desking; how many employees it has on average per desk; and how much space on average there is per employee.

Bob Neill: In 2009 the Department introduced flexible desking in Eland house to maximise space utilisation and facilitate the closure of Ashdown house (Victoria). The introduction of flexible desking, alongside other space efficiency measures, has meant that the average space per full time equivalent, based on the net internal area, is 9.6m(2).
	Having achieved the Government Property Unit's 10m(2) space target for existing civil estate occupations, the Department's strategy moving forward is to achieve 8m(2) per full time equivalent in its HQ building.
	The Department is committed to improving work/life balance. It values diversity and tries to accommodate different work patterns including the use of home working where operational/business constraints permit.

East London Tech City

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what contribution his Department is making to the Prime Minister's initiative to create a Tech City in East London.

Bob Neill: My officials have facilitated the coming together of UK trade and industry with the Greater London Authority, Olympic Park Legacy Company, east London boroughs, private and academic partners now taking Tech City forward; and remain available to assist where required.

Housing Associations: Mergers

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what powers he has to oversee mergers of housing associations for the purposes of ensuring due diligence;
	(2)  what arrangements are in place to govern the voting of  (a) chief executives and  (b) finance directors of housing associations on the merger of housing associations;
	(3)  what reports he has received on recent incidences involving the proposed merger of two housing associations where the chief executive of one of the housing associations concerned has retired and received a redundancy settlement; and if he will investigate such incidences.

Andrew Stunell: As independent organisations, it is for individual housing associations to make decisions on mergers, subject to the requirements and consent of the regulator of social housing (the Tenant Services Authority), who will have regard to all matters of due diligence and good governance.

Housing: Construction

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what criteria local authorities will be required to meet to receive the New Homes Bonus payments.

Grant Shapps: The New Homes Bonus will match fund the additional council tax raised for new homes and properties brought back into use, for the following six years with an enhancement for affordable homes.
	The Government's proposed model for implementation can be found at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingsupply/newhomesbonus
	A calculator has also been published alongside this which enables local authorities to estimate their grant.
	A consultation on the mechanics of the scheme ended on 24 December 2010 and the final details and individual local authority allocations will be published in due course.

Housing: Construction

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has to ensure that the new homes bonus reflects the strategic priority for brownfield development before greenfield in Planning Policy Statement 3, Housing; and what consideration he has given to providing an additional incentive for supporting brownfield redevelopment. [R]

Grant Shapps: The new homes bonus will match fund the additional council tax raised for new homes and properties brought back into use, for the following six years with an enhancement for affordable homes.
	The Government's proposed model for implementation can be found at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingsupply/newhomesbonus
	A consultation on the mechanics of the scheme closed on 24 December 2010 and final details will be published in due course.
	The new homes bonus does not change planning policy. However, we do believe it will promote more sustainable, locally-led development than the failed and unpopular regime of regional strategies.
	The consultation also proposes that the bonus rewards getting long-term empty homes back into productive use.

Housing: Construction

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether National Park Authorities will be eligible to receive the new homes bonus.

Grant Shapps: The new homes bonus will match fund the additional council tax raised for new homes and properties brought back into use, for the following six years with an enhancement for affordable homes.
	The Government's proposed model for implementation can be found at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingsupply/newhomesbonus
	A consultation on the mechanics of the scheme closed on 24 December 2010. The responses, including one from the English National Park Authorities Association, are currently being considered and details of the final scheme will be published in due course.

Housing: Regeneration

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he made of the effect on local housing market of housing market renewal programme before taking the decision to cancel the programme.

Grant Shapps: holding answer 13 January 2011
	 Housing market renewal pathfinders provided case studies to the Homes and Communities Agency and DCLG about their local housing areas during 2010, and these studies were used to inform the CSR assessment process.
	Some pathfinder schemes were successful, however, others attracted controversy due to an over-reliance on demolition, in part encouraged by top-down government targets.
	The reality of the fiscal deficit means that the spending review has had to take tough decisions about where savings can be made and consequently housing market renewal funding in the form of a separate programme will end in March 2011. We will make further announcements on promoting regeneration in due course. We have already announced plans to get empty homes back into productive use via the new homes bonus.

Local Government: Pay

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what proportion of  (a) local and  (b) county council executives receive salaries greater than that of the Prime Minister.

Bob Neill: Information on local authority senior pay is not held centrally. However, the new Government's transparency reforms will ensure that this information is published online to ensure greater public scrutiny and accountability.

DEFENCE

Air Force: Military Bases

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on redevelopment at each RAF base in the UK in each of the last five years; and what estimate he has made of likely expenditure on work classified as redevelopment in each of the next five years.

Andrew Robathan: The expenditure on redevelopment, defined as capital expenditure and minor new works, for the major RAF stations in the UK since financial year 2006-07 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Expenditure by station 
			  £ million 
			   2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 RAF Benson 0.6 2 1 2.2 
			 RAF Boulmer 0.2 0 0.1 0.8 
			 RAF Brampton/Wyton/Henlow 0 0.2 3.2 1 
			 RAF Brize Norton 8.1 13.4 31 14.3 
			 RAF Coningsby 0 0 19 0 
			 RAF Cottesmore 4 0.4 1.7 0.9 
			 RAF Cosford 1.3 0.1 0.6 12 
			 RAF Cranwell 0 0.8 2.7 2.6 
			 RAF Fylingdales 0.1 0 0.2 0 
			 RAF Halton 0.1 0.2 1.1 1 
			 RAF High Wycombe 7.2 2.4 3 3.2 
			 RAF Honington 1.5 0.2 6.8 8.7 
			 RAF Kinloss - - - - 
			 RAF Leeming 0.1 1.4 13.1 0 
			 RAF Leuchars - - - - 
			 RAF Linton on Ouse 6.4 0.5 7.6 1.1 
			 RAF Lossiemouth - - - - 
			 RAF Lyneham 2.2 0.9 1.6 2.2 
			 RAF Marham 2.5 0 6 0 
			 RAF Northolt 0.3 0.6 1.2 0.5 
			 RAF Odiham 3.0 3.0 3.6 4.7 
			 RAF Shawbury 0.3 0 0.5 0.8 
			 RAF Spadeadam 0 0 0.1 0.2 
			 RAF St Mawgan 0.08 0.2 0.4 0.4 
			 RAF Valley 1 19.1 14.5 1.4 
			 RAF Waddington 0 0.2 17.3 13 
			 RAF Wittering 0 0.2 0.5 4 
		
	
	Information for the financial year 2005-06 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Data for RAF stations in Scotland are not currently available and I will write to the right hon. and learned Member with the information requested.
	The Ministry of Defence is in the process of completing its annual planning round which will allocate future programme budgets. This is expected to conclude in early 2011.
	 Substantive answer from  Mr  Andrew Robathan to  Sir  Menzies Campbell:
	In my answer of 7 December 2010,  Official Report, column 221W, I undertook to write to you with data on the expenditure on redevelopment (defined as capital expenditure and minor new works) for RAF stations in Scotland since financial year 2006-07. This data is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Expenditure by station 
			  £ million 
			   Financial year 
			   2006-08  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 RAF Kinloss 5.3 3.9 1.9 1.8 
			 RAF Leuchars 4.7 20.2 5.6 9.4 
			 RAF Lossiemouth 5.6 1.8 4.5 6.1 
		
	
	Information prior to the financial year 2005-06 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Some of the expenditure has been split between individual financial years on an estimated basis.
	The Ministry of Defence is in the process of completing its annual planning round which will allocate future programme budgets. This is expected to conclude in early 2011.

Armed Forces: Officers

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to reduce the  (a) number and  (b) cost of senior officers in the British Army;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to reduce the  (a) number and  (b) cost of senior officers in the Royal Air Force;
	(3)  what steps he is taking to reduce the  (a) number and  (b) cost of senior officers in the Royal Navy.

Nick Harvey: As a result of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, the UK's armed forces will be restructured to meet current and emerging threats. In doing so, the services will undergo some changes that will include a reduction in capabilities and the associated manpower requirements. The Defence Reform Unit is looking at a range of cross-cutting issues, including whether the current senior rank structures across the services are appropriate. Details will be promulgated by the services when they have been identified.

Armed Forces: Officers

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many Royal Navy officers holding the rank of  (a) Commodore,  (b) Rear Admiral,  (c) Vice Admiral and  (d) Admiral are currently posted in (i) Scotland, (ii) Wales and (iii) Northern Ireland;
	(2)  how many  (a) Brigadiers,  (b) Major Generals,  (c) Lieutenant Generals and  (d) Generals are posted in (i) Scotland, (ii) Wales and (iii) Northern Ireland;
	(3)  how many  (a) Air Commodores,  (b) Air Vice Marshals,  (c) Air Marshals and  (d) Air Chief Marshals are posted in (i) Scotland, (ii) Wales and (iii) Northern Ireland.

Andrew Robathan: The information requested is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  UK regular forces stationed location as at 1 October 2010 
			Scotland  Wales  Northern Ireland 
			 Royal Navy  (a) Commodore 2 1 0 
			   (b) Rear Admiral 1 0 0 
			   (c) Vice Admiral 0 0 0 
			   (d) Admiral 0 0 0 
			  
			 Army  (a) Brigadier 3 1 3 
			   (b) Major General 2 0 0 
			   (c) Lieutenant General 0 0 0 
			   (d) General 0 0 0 
			  
			 RAF  (a) Air Commodore 2 0 0 
			   (b) Air Vice Marshal 0 0 0 
			   (c) Air Marshal 0 0 0 
			   (d) Air Chief Marshal 0 0 0 
			  Note: There are no Royal Marine officers in the ranks requested who are stationed in these locations.

Armed Forces: Officers

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many Royal Navy officers holding the rank of  (a) Commodore,  (b) Rear Admiral,  (c) Vice Admiral and  (d) Admiral are serving in the armed forces;
	(2)  how many  (a) Brigadiers,  (b) Major Generals,  (c) Lieutenant Generals and  (d) Generals serve in the armed forces;
	(3)  how many  (a) Air Commodores,  (b) Air Vice Marshals,  (c) Air Marshals and  (d) Air Chief Marshals serve in the armed forces.

Andrew Robathan: The information requested is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  UK regular forces strength by NATO rank at 1 October 2010 
			   Rank  Total  Royal Navy  Royal Marines  Army  RAF 
			  Total (1)480 (1)110 18 (1)230 (1)130 
			 OF-9 Admiral; General; Air Chief Marshal 10 2 0 5 3 
			 OF-8 Vice Admiral; Lieutenant General; Air Marshal 29 8 0 12 9 
			 OF-7 Rear Admiral; Major General; Air Vice-Marshal 95 25 7 39 24 
			 OF-6 Commodore; Brigadier; Air Commodore (1)350 74 11 (1)170 91 
			 (1) These figures have been rounded.  Note s : 1. Due to rounding methods used, figures may not always equal the sum of the parts. When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in five have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. 2. Figures less than 100 have been left unrounded so as not to obscure the data.

Departmental Working Conditions

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's policy is on  (a) the space provided per employee,  (b) home working and  (c) hot desking; how many employees it has on average per desk; and how much space on average there is per employee.

Andrew Robathan: Since April 2008 the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in common with all other central Government Departments has participated in the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Property Benchmarking Service, which captures office space utilisation of occupied offices having a net internal area over 500 m(2). For 2009-10 (the latest date for which figures are available) the position is:
	
		
			   Number 
			 Number of buildings benchmarked 22 
			 Total occupied space (m(2)) 278,601 
			 Space per member of full time equivalent staff (m(2)) 13.6 
		
	
	The MOD policy on space provided per employee follows the guidelines set out by the OGC. The space provided per employee for new acquisitions and major refurbishments is eight square metres.
	The MOD has no central policy on hot desking. Individual areas of the Department are responsible for arrangements locally.
	The MOD provides a range of flexible working patterns, including home working which are promoted as part of its overall work/life balance package. Managers are required carefully to consider any requests from staff for home working, but it is not always possible to support a request due to business reasons.
	Data on how many employees it has on average per desk are not held.

Electronic Warfare

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the government of  (a) China and  (b) Russia on cyberattacks.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 8 December 2010
	The Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), has not discussed cyber attacks with the Governments of China or Russia.

Germany: Army

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with his German counterpart on the redeployment of personnel from Germany.

Nick Harvey: The Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), wrote to the German Defence Minister on 20 October 2010, informing him of our aim to return half our personnel from Germany by 2015 and the remainder by 2020. In addition, my ministerial colleagues and officials maintain regular dialogue with their counterparts in support of our close security and defence partnership. I will be visiting Germany shortly and will discuss the issue with political and civil representatives.

Military Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many transport aircraft are being leased by his Department;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing transport aircraft of each type  (a) in total and  (b) per flight hour in each of the last six years.

Peter Luff: I will write to the hon. Member shortly.
	 Substantive answer from Peter Luff to Angus Robertson:
	I undertook to write to you in answer to your Parliamentary Questions on 21 December 2010, (Official Report, column 1203), about transport aircraft being leased by the MOD.
	The Ministry of Defence does not currently lease transport aircraft. We did lease four C-17 aircraft from Boeing between 2001 to 2008 at a fixed price. Costs of operating those aircraft during the period of the lease broken down by flying hour could only be provided at a disproportionate cost. The four leased C-17 aircraft were bought-out on cessation of the seven year lease period in autumn 2008 and are now owned by the Government. We have subsequently purchased three further C-17 aircraft from Boeing.
	As I explained in the answer I gave on 12 January 2011 (Official Report, column 235W), we do, however, currently charter aircraft (i.e. contract through an airline broker with private companies to fly Ministry of Defence (MOD) personnel and equipment). Such charters are largely to transport personnel and equipment in direct or indirect support to operations.
	The number of aircraft chartered by MOD will vary significantly at any point in time. For example the deployment of new equipments or for unit change-overs may necessitate the charter of additional aircraft. Information is held covering the period from November 2007 until the end of February 2011 (including pre-allotted tasks). The information is held for one-way tasks (or journeys). The number of individual 'aircraft chartered', would be lower owing to the significant number of round-trips undertaken. The tasks have been undertaken by a variety of aircraft types depending on both the load size and whether passengers or freight was transported.
	From November 2007 to end February 2011, the Department has chartered approximately 8250 journeys. For the month of January 2011, the Department has chartered 132 aircraft to support 206 tasks (or journeys).
	Details of the cost of chartering aircraft broken down by aircraft type and by flying hour over a six year period could only be provided at disproportionate cost, but I am able to advise that total cost of chartering transport aircraft by financial year (excluding military aviation fuel, but including civilian aviation fuel costs) is as follows:
	
		
			  Financial year  £ million 
			 2006-07 70 
			 2007-08 108 
			 2008-09 145 
			 2009-10 155 
			 2010-11 (forecast) 215 
		
	
	The steady increase in spend reflects the increasing size of the deployed force in Afghanistan and the increasing tempo of operations. This was partly offset in 2008-09 to 2009-10 by the withdrawal from Iraq but each tonne of cargo flown to Afghanistan travels considerably more distance than a tonne flown to Iraq, particularly given the requirement for flight routes to avoid Iran. It must also be borne in mind that the landlocked nature of Afghanistan coupled with security constraints demand that we fly much more cargo as a proportion of the total than we did into Iraq.
	We would not expect the Op HERRICK charter costs to rise in Financial Year 2011-12 as on current assumptions we do not see our force structure or the sustainment requirement increasing. Costs may however rise as a result of fuel price increases.

Military Exercises: Salisbury Plain

Claire Perry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of work on tank crossings as part of the project to provide safe access for military vehicles across the Salisbury Plain Training Area.

Andrew Robathan: The current estimated cost for work on the tank crossings across Salisbury plain is £2.4 million excluding VAT, fees and design costs.
	The actual cost to the Ministry of Defence is unlikely to be known until 2012.

Nuclear Weapons

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion of 17 June 2010,  Official Report, column 503W, on nuclear weapons, which US establishments were visited by personnel from the Atomic Weapons Establishment in each of the last three years; and how many staff visited each such establishment.

Peter Luff: I will write to the hon. Member with the information requested and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.
	 Substantive answer from Peter Luff to Paul Flynn:
	In my answer to your Parliamentary Question on 13 December 2010,  Official Report, column 458W, I undertook to write to you and provide details on the US establishments visited by personnel from the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE).
	This information has now been collated: the attached annex details the US establishments visited by AWE personnel in the years 2007, 2008 and 2009. This table covers those visits made under the terms of the US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement, which was the basis for the Answer to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) on 17 June 2010,  Official Report, column 503W.
	
		
			  Breakdown of US establishments visited by AWE personnel in each of the last three years 
			   Number of visits by AWE staff to each establishment 
			  US Establishments visited by AWE personnel under the terms of the US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement  2007  2008  2009 
			 US Department of Defence, Pentagon 2 5 1 
			 Los Alamos National Laboratory 232 179 164 
			 National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) HQ Washington DC 33 66 29 
			 Sandia National Laboratory, New Mexico 179 187 189 
			 Sandia National Laboratory California 28 19 32 
			 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 173 124 166 
			 Honeywell Kansas City Plant 31 45 24 
			 Nevada Test Site 13 52 41 
			 Y12 Plant Oak Ridge 31 18 23 
			 ITT Crystal City 15 15 6 
			 BAE Washington DC 4 6 - 
			 Defence Threat Reduction Agency Washington 19 25 12 
			 NNSA Nevada Operations Office 25 - 5 
			 B&W Pantex Plant 30 27 26 
			 Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Sunnyvale 11 12 13 
			 Strategic Systems Programme US Navy - 13 - 
			 Strategic Weapons Facility Atlantic - 6 - 
			 Savannah River National Laboratory 11 - 7 
			 Defence Intelligence Agency - 6 - 
			 Southern Research Institute - 3 - 
			 Remote Sensing Laboratory Nevada - 5 - 
			 Nevada Intelligence Centre - 26 - 
			 Naval Surface Warfare Centre 3 9 7 
			 Pax River Naval Air Systems Command - 2 - 
			 Oak Ridge National Laboratory 9 12 - 
			 Naval Research Laboratory 2 4 6 
			 DTI Associates 6 - - 
			 Fort Bragg - 2 - 
			 Systems Planning and Analysis - 1 - 
			 Air Force Technical Applications Centre Patrick Air Force Base 3 5 - 
			 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 5 - 3 
			 Kirtland Air Force Base - - 9 
			 Miramar Air Station - - 3 
			 Federal Bureau of Investigation Quantico - - 2 
			 National Security Agency Fort George - - 1 
			 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station - - 1 
			 Wright Patterson Air Force Base - - 5 
			 Tonopah Test Range - - 1 
			 NNSA Service Centre Albuquerque - - 5 
			 Applied Physical Laboratory 2 - - 
			 Northrop Grumman 23 - - 
			 Lockheed Martin Missile and Space Company Cocoa Beach 3 - - 
			 Idaho National Laboratory 1 - - 
			 Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific 3 - - 
			 Defence Threat Reduction Agency Albuquerque 1 - - 
			 Applied Research Associates 1 - - 
			 Central Intelligence Agency 1 - - 
			 Savannah River Site - 2 6 
			 Total 900 876 787 
		
	
	The total numbers differ from those in the June 2010 answer as some staff visited more than one facility.

Rescue Services

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  on how many occasions an E-3D Sentry has been involved in a search and rescue mission in each of the last 12 months;
	(2)  what search and rescue training is taking place for E-3D Sentry crews; and in which locations that training is taking place;
	(3)  what capabilities the E-3D Sentry has to detect, identify and track vessels under 300 gross tonnes.

Nick Harvey: In the last 12 months, no RAF E-3D Sentry has been involved in search and rescue missions. E-3D Sentry is optimised for the air-to-air role and its radar has a limited maritime search mode. I am withholding details on the capability of the E-3D radar to detect, identify and track vessels under 300 gross tonnes as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.
	There is no formal training requirement for E-3D Sentry crews on specific long range search and rescue techniques. However, an E-3D Sentry participated in a NATO-led SAR training exercise in May 2010. In addition, during normal routine training sorties in UK airspace, crews are trained on an opportunity basis in the operation of the radar's maritime search mode.
	The UK will continue to provide search and rescue services using a range of assets depending on the response required.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Business: Regulation

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans his Department has to reduce the burden of regulation on small and medium-sized enterprises.

Mark Prisk: Reducing the burden of regulation on businesses, particularly SMEs, is a priority for this Government.
	Early this year we will be announcing outcomes from the growth review, which will set out ambitious proposals on where and how regulatory barriers for business should be reduced, enabling private sector growth and creating jobs.
	The Better Regulation Executive, in this Department, will also be publishing the Forward Statement of Regulation, giving business prior notice of regulatory and deregulatory measures due to come into affect in the next six months, as well as outlining details of progress the Government have made to reduce regulation.
	The BRE continues to work with Departments to identify regulation which is overly burdensome, particularly on SMEs, and support policy makers in using non-regulatory approaches.

Companies: Females

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many companies that had women as  (a) sole proprietors and  (b) directors were registered at Companies House in 2009-10.

Edward Davey: Companies House does not hold any information on sole proprietors and we do not differentiate between men and women directors.

Conditions of Employment: Reform

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effects of his proposals for employment rights reform on  (a) the availability of work placements within degree programmes and  (b) employment between periods of undergraduate and postgraduate study.

Edward Davey: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is leading a cross-Government review of employment legislation. The review aims to maximise the flexibility of employers in managing their work force while maintaining the essential protections for individual employees with the ultimate objective of promoting economic growth. It will consider employment law area by area and any proposals will be consulted on and the potential impact assessed.

Copyright: Internet

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of music tracks acquired through illegal downloading in 2010;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the scale of illegal downloading of music from peer-to-peer sources in 2010;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the scale of illegal downloading of music from non-peer-to-peer sources in 2010.

Edward Vaizey: I have been asked to reply.
	No estimates of the type the hon. Member refers to have been prepared.
	The industry itself have made regular estimates, and these have been cited by Government in the past, but Ofcom will be responsible under the Digital Economy Act 2010 for compiling a data on, among other things, the current level of subscribers' use of internet access services to infringe copyright. This work will start when the initial obligations code comes into force later this year.

Higher Education: Admissions

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of applicants to universities in England for entry in September 2011 who will not secure a place.

David Willetts: holding answer 18 January 2011
	 Statistics on applicants for entry into higher education are available via the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). It is still early in the 2011 application cycle, but published UCAS figures as of the 20 December 2010 show a 2.5% increase in applications (344,064 applications for 2011 entry compared to 335,795 at the same point the previous year). The number of unplaced applicants will depend on the final number of applications and places offered.
	We announced in the 2011-12 Higher Education Funding Council for England Grant Letter that we were continuing to make provision for the 10,000 additional entrant places made available through the University Modernisation Fund in May 2010. The number of places offered is therefore unlikely to vary significantly from 2010.
	Provisional end of year figures for 2010 show that that there were 209,253 unplaced applicants (688,310 applicants from all domiciles for a place at a UK institution; 479,057 accepted). Of these unplaced applicants, 94,561 had declined an offer or withdrew from the process and 161,984 were domiciled in the UK.
	Applicants who were not accepted for entry can include: individuals who did not receive any offer; individuals who received an offer (conditional or unconditional) but decided not to go to University; individuals who received a conditional offer and failed to meet the specific conditions (eg they did not achieve certain grades); and individuals who decided to withdraw from the UCAS system.

Higher Education: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will publish the monetary value of the loan his Department provides to each higher education institution to cover the costs of graduate contributions in  (a) 2010-11,  (b) 2011-12,  (c) 2012-13,  (d) 2013-14 and  (e) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Department makes forecasts of expenditure on loans towards the cost of graduate contributions at the national level. Full-time student tuition fee loan outlay for English domicile students is estimated to be approximately £2.5 billion in FY 2010-11 and £2.7 billion in 2011-12. As the new arrangements are phased in from 2012-13, the full-time student tuition fee loan outlay is estimated to increase to £3.5 billion in 2012-13, £5 billion in 2013-14 and £6 billion in 2014-15. These are initial estimates and are subject to change as HEIs and students respond to the new funding arrangements. Forecasts are not available at institution level.
	Information on outturn expenditure on student loans is published annually as part of the Statistical First Release: "Student Support for Higher Education in England". Final figures for the academic year 2010/11 will be published in November 2011.

Higher Education: Scholarships

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of students who will receive assistance from the proposed National Scholarship Programme in each of the next four years; and whether  (a) mature and  (b) part -time students will be able to access the scheme.

David Willetts: The National Scholarship Programme (NSP) will form part of a coherent package of help targeted on bright potential students from disadvantaged backgrounds. All universities that want to charge a higher graduate contribution than the £6,000 threshold will be obliged to participate in the NSP.
	The design of the NSP is by no means finalised. Criteria for the NSP are currently being developed through advice from an expert panel, which includes the National Union of Students, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Universities UK, Sutton Trust and others. My right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes), the Government's Advocate for Access to Higher Education, has been invited to join the group.
	We want a wide range of people to be able to participate in the Programme and likely groups to be supported include disabled students, part-time students, mature-aged students, those who have been eligible for the pupil premium at school, or have received free school meals or have low family incomes.
	Government investment in the Programme will reach £150 million a year by 2014/15. We have suggested that an option of a first free year for disadvantaged students or a foundation year to attract young talented people into the professions could potentially help around 18,000 students in 2014/15. In addition, we will look to increase the leverage of Government funding by getting matched contributions from universities. The number of students who can benefit from the new Programme will depend on the final design which is currently being developed with advice from the expert panel.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships: Operating Costs

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of the budget for knowledge transfer networks was spent on administration in the last year for which figures are available.

David Willetts: The Technology Strategy Board's administration costs for supporting the Knowledge Transfer Networks for the period January to December 2010 were £285,000. This covered the total staff costs for the dedicated KTN team within the Technology Strategy Board.
	Information on an individual Knowledge Transfer Network's administration costs cannot however be specified as their role is to reach out and organise events and meetings that enable key individuals in business and academe, among others, to network. Much of this activity could be classified as administrative. The cost of delivering these services is however closely scrutinised to ensure value for money and funding is only provided against a well defined business case with clear objectives and outcomes.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships: Pay

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the salary is of the chief executive of each knowledge transfer network.

David Willetts: Knowledge Transfer Networks do not have chief executives, as the services of a network are delivered by companies in receipt of a Technology Strategy Board grant, on condition of appointing a suitably qualified Director to deliver the objectives of the network.
	The Director's salary range is between £64,000 and £113,500 reflecting the pay scale of the parent organisation and the market rate for a credible individual within a specific field of technology.

National Scholarship Fund

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether those aged 25 or more  (a) on low incomes and  (b) in receipt of benefits will be eligible to receive assistance from the National Scholarship Fund; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The National Scholarship Programme (NSP) will form part of a coherent package of help targeted on bright potential students from disadvantaged backgrounds. All universities that want to charge a higher graduate contribution than the £6,000 threshold will be obliged to participate in the NSP.
	Details of the National Scholarship Programme are still being finalised. Criteria for the NSP are currently being developed through advice from an expert panel, which includes the National Union of Students, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Universities UK, Sutton Trust and others. My right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes), the Government's Advocate for Access to Higher Education, has been invited to join the group.
	We want a wide range of people to be able to participate in the Programme and likely groups to be supported include disabled students, part-time students, mature-aged students, those who have been eligible for the pupil premium at school, or have received free school meals or whose family income means that they will be eligible to receive student maintenance grants.

Postgraduate Education

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to establish a working group with the Higher Education Statistics Authority and higher education funding councils to consider what additional information should be collected on postgraduates to inform future policy decisions on widening access to postgraduate study; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: We will, as Lord Browne suggested, monitor participation in postgraduate study to identify whether changes to the undergraduate funding and finance system have any effect on entry to postgraduate courses and will set out our proposals for postgraduate provision and our response to the postgraduate review in the forthcoming higher education White Paper.

Postgraduate Education

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to identify further ways to promote postgraduate education at universities in England overseas; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Government welcome genuine students from other countries to study at higher education institutions (HEIs) in England at both postgraduate and undergraduate level. Higher Education Statistics Agency figures published earlier this month show that 334,960 students from outside the United Kingdom were enrolled at English HEIs in 2009/10, with 169,355 at postgraduate level, indicating the high regard in which English higher education is held around the world. The British Council, with its presence in more than 110 countries and territories worldwide, promotes the United Kingdom as a study destination, and works through Education UK partnerships with universities and colleges to support international student recruitment and partnership building with overseas institutions.

Quality Assurance Agency: Performance Standards

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the performance of the Quality Assurance Agency; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by the Quality Assurance Agency in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: This Department has made no formal assessment of the performance of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), nor does it hold information about QAA's staffing levels. The QAA is an independent body, a charity, and a company limited by guarantee. It is funded through contracts with the three UK higher education funding bodies and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland, and through subscriptions from higher education institutions. The QAA reports annually to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) on its activities to assure the quality of higher education in England. Those reports are available on the QAA's website, as are the QAA's contracts with HEFCE, its annual operating plans, and annual reviews.

Research

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to extend the duration of the operation of the Research Excellence Framework; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is being developed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), in collaboration with the higher education funding bodies from the devolved Administrations. Following the announcement in July 2010 of a one year delay to the implementation of the REF, HEFCE has published a revised timetable. Detailed guidance on submissions and assessment criteria will be published during 2011. Higher education institutions will be invited to make submissions for the first assessment under the REF during 2013, and that assessment will take place during 2014, with publication by the end of 2014. Further details are available at:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/research/ref/

Science

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to extend the duration of the operation of the Science and Innovation Framework; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Science and Innovation Framework set out the policy of the previous Government. This Government have demonstrated their strong commitment to Science and Research by protecting Science and Research programme funding for the next four years within a ring fence.

Science: Equal Opportunities

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what funding he plans to allocate to the Royal Academy of Engineering to develop a new diversity programme in engineering.

David Willetts: We announced the Royal Academy of Engineering's total grant for each of the next four years on 20 December 2010, as part of the science and research budget allocations, but funding for individual programmes is still being discussed. We expect to conclude these discussions shortly, and the detailed delivery plan will then be published on the academy's website.

UK Resource Centre for Science Engineering and Technology

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will make an estimate of the likely redundancy costs arising from his decision to end funding for the UK Resource Centre for Science, Engineering and Technology.

David Willetts: It is not yet clear whether redundancies will be necessary within UK Resource Centre UKRC: this is a matter for UKRC.
	This Department has offered to restructure the remainder of the UKRC's grant this year to assist with UKRC's transition.

UK Resource Centre for Science Engineering and Technology

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what plans he has for the promotion of women's networks in science, technology, engineering and mathematics following the withdrawal of funding to the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology;
	(2)  what plans he has for the collation and publication of statistics on women working in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics following the withdrawal of funding for the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

David Willetts: BIS officials have monitored the UK Resource Centre's (UKRC) work over the current spending period through receiving regular updates on the progress of UKRC programmes, as part of quarterly progress meetings and through monthly financial summaries.

UK Resource Centre for Science Engineering and Technology

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has visited the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

David Willetts: I have not visited the centre itself, and neither have my BIS ministerial colleagues. However, a UK Resource Centre (UKRC) ambassador met me in September 2010 to discuss her work with UKRC.
	BIS officials have worked closely with the UKRC over the last spending period, and have visited the centre and attended the organisation's annual conference and other events.

UK Resource Centre for Science Engineering and Technology

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what consultation he undertook on his decision to cease funding the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

David Willetts: This decision was part of the wider science and research allocation. The following bodies provided advice on this broader allocation:
	The Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the British Academy, the Council for Science and Technology, the Chief Scientific Advisers' Committee, the Confederation of British Industry, and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

UK Resource Centre for Science Engineering and Technology

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on his plans to cease funding the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

David Willetts: The director of the UK Resource Centre (UKRC) met BIS officials on 21 December 2010 and 19 January 2011 to discuss the announcement that funding for the UKRC will not be continued after the end of the current comprehensive spending review (CSR) period (31 March 2011). I have received seven related items of correspondence.

UK Resource Centre for Science Engineering and Technology

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effects of changes in the level of his Department's funding for the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology from April 2011 on its access to funds from the European Union; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The UK Resource Centre (UKRC) has been appointed as a partner in the European Union Framework Programme 7 INTEGER project on implementing structural change in higher education institutions (HEIs) and research institutes, due to start in February 2011, but will need to secure £60,000 of further funding to proceed.
	If the UKRC secure participation in other FP7 projects, they will need to raise funding beyond the current grant period to proceed with these.

UK Resource Centre for Science Engineering and Technology

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the gender equality training provided by the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the CEO Charter Scheme operated by the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

David Willetts: BIS officials have monitored the UK Resource Centre's (UKRC) work over the current spending period through receiving regular updates on the progress of UKRC programmes, as part of quarterly progress meetings and through monthly financial summaries.

Working Conditions

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his Department's policy is on  (a) the space provided per employee,  (b) home working and  (c) hot desking; how many employees it has on average per desk; and how much space on average there is per employee.

Edward Davey: This Department aims to follow the Government's space standard of 10 square metres per FTE, subject to the building infrastructure being able to handle this level of density.
	The Department supports flexible working which can help individuals manage their work-life balance, subject to meeting business needs. Flexible working includes the following examples: flexi-time, part-time, compressed hours, annualised hours and home working. Staff can apply to work at home on an ad hoc or regular basis. Arrangements are agreed and managed locally by line managers.
	The Departments predecessors introduced flexible desking several years ago and the majority of the Departments buildings now operate using a mixture of a 7:10 or 8:10 desk to people ratio.
	I would refer my hon. Friend to the Office of Government Commerce "State of the Estate" reports for 2009, which can be found at the following link.
	http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/SOFTE_brochure.pdf

INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS AUTHORITY COMMITTEE

Members: Allowances

Bob Russell: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, whether allowance limits for hon. Members will be increased to cover increases in  (a) the rate of value added tax and  (b) national insurance contributions for staff.

Charles Walker: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. I have asked IPSA to reply.
	 Letter from Andrew McDonald, dated January 2011:
	As Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking whether the allowance limits for hon. Members will be increased to cover increases in (a) the rate of value added tax (VAT) and (b) National Insurance Contributions for staff. (34371)
	For the remainder of this financial year, the budget limits set out in the MPs' Expenses Scheme will not be increased to cover the increase in VAT. Decisions regarding the budget limits for 2011-12 will be taken as part of the Annual Review of the Expenses Scheme, which is currently underway. The decisions will take account of the rates of VAT (for those expenses on which VAT is paid) and National Insurance Contributions in 2011-12. We will publish the budget limits for 2011-12 during March 2011.

PRIME MINISTER

Driving Standards Agency: Cardiff

Peter Hain: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  on what date he or officials from his Office first discussed with the Secretary of State for Wales the decision to close the Cardiff office of the Driving Standards Agency;
	(2)  which officials of his Office were involved in the decision to delay the announcement of the closure of the Cardiff office of the Driving Standards Agency; and for what reasons the decision was taken to delay the announcement until 18 January 2011;
	(3)  what involvement his Office had in the decision to delay the announcement of the closure of the Cardiff office of the Driving Standards Agency;
	(4)  what the extent of the involvement of his Office was in the decision to close the Cardiff office of the Driving Standards Agency.

David Cameron: My Office had no involvement in this decision. I refer the right hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning) on 18 January 2011,  Official Report, column 36WS.

Technology: Greater London

Stephen Timms: To ask the Prime Minister what progress he has made on his initiative to create a Tech City in East London.

David Cameron: Following the significant commitment made by leading technology companies to contribute to the East End Tech City, we have been working with the Greater London Authority, UK Trade and Investment and Olympic Park Legacy Company to progress this important initiative. Follow-up events have included technology breakfasts at Number 10, a major conference of over 100 entrepreneurs at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and a networking event held in Shoreditch. I and ministerial colleagues are continuing to engage with global leading technology companies to develop this agenda.

CABINET OFFICE

Civil Service: Redundancy

Alison McGovern: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether his Department has put in place a communications plan in respect of civil service redundancies.

Francis Maude: Civil service Departments are each responsible for their own work force planning, including redundancies. The Cabinet Office has no plans for central communications on their behalf.

Civil Service: Redundancy

Alison McGovern: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what his policy is on redeployment of civil servants to prevent involuntary redundancy; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: Civil service Departments and agencies are committed to mitigating potential redundancies to the greatest extent possible. This includes opening up redeployment opportunities across the civil service and giving priority consideration to applications from employees at risk of redundancy.

Civil Service: Redundancy

John McDonnell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  whether voluntary redundancy settlements have been reached with the  (a) Cabinet Office Chief Information Officer,  (b) Chief Executive of DirectGov and  (c) Director General of the Office for Civil Society in the last three months;
	(2)  how many senior civil servants in his Department have taken  (a) voluntary redundancy and  (b) early retirement since November 2010; and what the (i) job title and (ii) financial settlement was in each such case.

Francis Maude: Since November 2010 there have been seven departures at senior civil service level from the Cabinet Office. These include end of appointments, resignations, early retirements and voluntary exits. These figures include the Government's Chief Information Officer, the Chief Executive of DirectGov and Director General of the Office for Civil Society.
	To protect the confidentiality of individual circumstances, it is not possible to provide details of individual arrangements. However Cabinet Office total funding for exits has been £261,000.

Government Departments: Procurement

Mark Spencer: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the effects of changes in the number of centrally-negotiated procurement contracts in Government on the number of contracts awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Francis Maude: Greater centralisation of public sector procurement is essential if we are to achieve value for money in our purchasing activity. SME participation is an important part of this centralised strategy, either as direct suppliers to Government or as sub-contractors. The previous Government collected no reliable figures on SME participation in Government contracts so the Government are only putting together data on the number of contracts awarded to small businesses and this will be published in due course.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Research

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding was allocated to research and development in agriculture by levy boards in each of the last five years; and what estimate she has made of the levels of such funding in each of the next four financial years.

James Paice: Expenditure by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board on research and development and Knowledge Transfer since its formation in 2008 is shown in following the table. Collated figures for the previous sector boards are not available.
	
		
			   Source  Actual expenditure and forecast future spend on R&D and Knowledge Transfer by AHDB (£ million) 
			 2013-14 Proposed figures, under consultation. Source AHDB. 22.6 
			 2012-13 Proposed figures, under consultation. Source AHDB. 22.2 
			 2011-12 Proposed figures, under consultation. Source AHDB. 21.0 
			 2010-11 Published planned expenditure. Source AHDB. 21.5 
			 2009-10 Actual expenditure. From AHDB Annual Report and Accounts 2009-10. 19.4 
			 2008-09 Actual expenditure. From AHDB Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09. 20.6 
			 2007-08 Actual expenditure. From AHDB Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09. 20.2

Cycling: Access

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the policy of her Department is on the extension to cycling and horse-riding of rights of way access over land.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA is keen to see more access provision for cyclists and horse riders and is encouraging local authorities to develop new routes and to provide access routes where people need them.

Fisheries

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the promotion of pelagic fish for consumption.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA has recently set up the 'Fishing for the Markets' project. This is a new initiative looking to encourage consumption of under-utilised, sustainable species that are often discarded, which may include some pelagic species.
	The Government are working to help improve the sustainability of fish throughout the supply chain, from sea to plate. The Food Standards Agency is able to advise on the health issues relating to the consumption of fish.

Flood Control

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment the Government has made of whether flood risks in England will increase over the next  (a) five,  (b) 10 and  (c) 25 years.

Richard Benyon: The latest UK climate science confirms that rising sea levels and more severe and frequent rainstorms are likely to occur-resulting in increasing flood and coastal erosion risk. More information is available in the UKCP09 climate projections section of DEFRA's website:
	http://ukclimateprojections.defra.gov.uk/
	Work by the Environment Agency suggests that river flows may increase by 20% by 2080, although this may vary around the country.
	The Environment Agency's long-term investment strategy presents investment options to manage increasing levels of flood and coastal risk in England caused by climate change and asset deterioration over the next 25 years (2010-35).
	A copy of the strategy and related information can be found on the Environment Agency's website.

Flood Control

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Environment Agency's capital budget has been for flood risk management in  (a) 2008-09,  (b) 2009-10 and  (c) 2010-11; and what that budget is for (i) 2011-12 and (ii) 2012-13.

Richard Benyon: The following table shows flood risk management budgets from DEFRA to the Environment Agency to deliver capital investments through all operating authorities (the Environment Agency, local authorities and internal drainage boards). These are the Environment Agency's budgets for 2008-11 for England, and the allocation assumptions for 2011-13 based on the DEFRA settlement.
	
		
			   From DEFRA (£ million) 
			 2008-09 340 
			 2009-10 349 
			 2010-11 354 
			 2011-12 259 
			 2012-13 259

Flood Control: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when construction of the Environment Agency's flood Alleviation Scheme at Water End, York will commence;
	(2)  when construction of the Environment Agency's flood Alleviation Scheme at Thirsk, North Yorkshire will commence.

Richard Benyon: The indicative funding allocation proposals for flood and coastal erosion risk management projects for 2011-12 are currently subject to discussion between the Environment Agency and its regional flood defence committees.
	Final decisions on the allocation of funds to regional committees will be made in February or March by the Environment Agency's board, and decisions on the programmes of schemes to be delivered next year will be made by the committees in April.

Flood Control: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Environment Agency's Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee will approve its capital programme for 2011-12.

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency's Yorkshire Committee will consider its business plan for 2011-12 for approval by 21 April 2011.
	The business plan incorporates capital and revenue programmes, and will be based on final allocations of grant in aid to be approved by the Environment Agency's Board on 3 February 2011.

Flood Control: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Environment Agency's capital spending was on flood risk management in the Yorkshire and North East Region in  (a) 2008-09,  (b) 2009-10 and  (c) 2010-11; and what that budget is for (i) 2011-12 and (ii) 2012-13.

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency's capital spending and indicative expenditure on flood risk management in the Yorkshire and North East region for the specified years is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Yorkshire and North East region capital expenditure 
			£ million 
			  (a) 2008-09 28.5 
			  (b) 2009-10 45.8 
			  (c) 2010-11 41.1 
			 (i) 2011-12 (1)32.5 
			 (ii) 2012-13 (2)- 
			 (1) Indicative allocation for agency projects. (2) The budget for future years will depend on the outcome of DEFRA's "Future funding for Flood and Coast Erosion Risk Management" consultation.

Food Standards Agency: Research

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding was allocated to research and development in agriculture by the Food Standards Agency in the last five years; and what estimate she has made of the level of such funding to be allocated by the Agency in each of the next four financial years.

Anne Milton: I have been asked to reply.
	The Food Standards Agency (FSA), funds research to ensure that the best available evidence is available, from "farm to fork", to protect consumers. The vast majority of FSA research is targeted on issues post farm-gate. Information on each of the research (and survey) projects funded by the FSA (including the cost) is placed in the public domain on an annual basis. The project lists for the last five years can be accessed from the FSA website as follows:
	 2005-06: (Appendix 1, p 81 onwards)
	www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/annualscirep
	 2006-07 :  (Appendix 1, p 91 onwards)
	www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/researchreport2007.pdf
	 2007-08 :  (Report data tables)
	www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/chiefscireport0708data.pdf
	 2008-09 :  (Annex D)
	www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/chiefscireport0809annexed.pdf
	 2009-10: (Annex A, p 118 onwards)
	www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/csr0910a.pdf
	The FSA future areas for research are prioritised on an annual basis as part of its business planning process, against its strategic needs and to address identified gaps in the evidence base. These will take into account recent Machinery of Government changes, which altered the FSA remit, and the refresh of the FSA's Strategic Plan and Science and Evidence Strategy which is currently out to consultation, ending 11 February 2011. It is therefore not possible to say at this time what levels of funding will be allocated to research and development in agriculture over the next four years, but it is likely to be a similar picture to the most recent reports cited above.

Research: Finance

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding her Department allocated to research and development in the last five years; and how much such funding she plans to allocate in each of the next four financial years.

Richard Benyon: Core DEFRA's research and development spend for the last five years was as follows:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2005-06 139 
			 2006-07 137 
			 2007-08 130 
			 2008-09 128 
			 2009-10 (1)119 
			 (1) The Department's Evidence Investment Strategy published in January 2010 quoted a 'budget' for research in 2009-10 of £125 million. The figure above reflects the actual 'spend'. 
		
	
	The data was taken from the Science Information System, which is used to monitor and record details of DEFRA's research and development projects.
	The total DEFRA evidence budgets (which include research and development) for the core Department over the next four years will be maintained in the same proportion of total programme expenditure in 2014-15 as in 2010-11.
	Evidence is defined as reliable and accurate information that DEFRA can use to support sound decisions in developing, shaping and evaluating policy. It includes research and development, monitoring and surveillance, economic and statistical analysis and modelling, secondary analysis and synthesis, and analysis of stakeholder views.
	The total budget available to commission evidence in each year is as follows:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2010-11 210 
			 2011-12 199 
			 2012-13 188 
			 2013-14 177 
			 2014-15 167 
		
	
	For comparison, the budget for evidence in 2009-10 was £213 million, of which, £119 million was classified as research spend. In addition, the budget for evidence in 2010-11 was £210 million, of which, the approximate research budget is £123 million (actual spend figures not yet available). I do not anticipate any significant change in the proportion of research and development/other evidence commissioned in the next four years. However, it is difficult to be definitive about this as the figures include a significant ring-fenced unallocated evidence provision retained for 2012-13 onwards. This will be allocated annually according to the DEFRA chief scientific adviser's advice on the evidence priorities at the time. The exact proportion of the evidence total spent on research and development may vary depending on this advice.
	These figures represent evidence commissioned by core DEFRA in each year from external providers and our three laboratory agencies (the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science; the Food and Environment Research Agency and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency). None of the figures quoted above include evidence commissioned out of grant in aid funds by the Environment Agency, Natural England, Forestry Commission or the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.

Supermarkets: Prices

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the appropriate mechanism for regulation of prices paid to manufacturers by the food retail industry for  (a) milk,  (b) cheese,  (c) yoghurt,  (d) other dairy products,  (e) meat from livestock,  (f) poultry and  (g) fish.

James Paice: The Government do not consider it appropriate to regulate prices paid to manufacturers by the food retail industry. We believe that the market must drive both production and price levels to ensure that our food and farming industries are efficient, profitable and able to compete on the global market in which we now operate.
	It is important to ensure that large retailers cannot abuse power by transferring excessive risks or unexpected costs onto their suppliers, as risks and costs should be shared appropriately throughout the supply chain. Benefits should also be shared appropriately, including with consumers. While the revised Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP) is a great improvement on the previous regime, the power that large grocery retailers can wield over their suppliers can still create pressures on small producers, which ultimately may impact on consumers.
	We therefore propose to establish a Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) to monitor and enforce the GSCOP. The Bill to establish the GCA will be brought forward in the near future.

Water: Older People and Vulnerable Adults

Rory Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she has taken to ensure that national water suppliers and utilities companies are prioritising for reconnection of services and repairs for the elderly and vulnerable during the recent water shortages.

Richard Benyon: There have been no recent water shortages or disconnections of customers from the mains water supply in England. However, some customers did suffer disruption to their water supply as a result of burst pipes within their properties, and on water company networks, during the cold weather in December and January.
	Where there were supply disruptions due to bursts on water company mains, the water company provided water by alternative means as required by the Security and Emergency Measures Direction 1998, which was produced under the provisions of Section 208 of the Water Industry Act 1991.
	Priority is given to the domestic needs of the sick, the elderly, the disabled, hospitals, schools, and other vulnerable sectors of the population.
	Where there are supply disruptions due to bursts within customers' properties, this is the responsibility of the customer.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Arms Control

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many full-time equivalent permanent staff of his Department were allocated to working on preparations and negotiations towards an international arms trade treaty in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt: Securing a robust and effective arms trade treaty remains a priority for the UK Government. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's counter proliferation department and the UK arms control and disarmament mission in Geneva lead on the negotiation of an arms trade treaty and are supported by many other departments and posts across the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's extensive network, and expertise from across Whitehall. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not keep records on the full-time equivalent staff that have worked on the issue over the last five years.

China: EU External Trade

John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether it is the Government's policy that the EU arms embargo on China should be maintained.

Jeremy Browne: The Government's view is that the time is not right to lift the EU arms embargo on China.

Conferences

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department has spent on conferences since May 2010.

Henry Bellingham: As budgets in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) are devolved to FCO missions overseas and to individual directorates and strategic programmes within the UK, this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	However, all expenditure undertaken by the FCO is directly aimed at achieving our foreign policy priorities, to ensure the Department achieves value for money and is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the HM Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.

Conflict Prevention

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2010,  Official Report, column 955W, on conflict prevention, whether he plans to lay a draft of the Building Stability Overseas Strategy before Parliament for consultation before publishing the final strategy.

Henry Bellingham: I do not plan to lay a draft of the Building Stability Overseas strategy before Parliament for consultation ahead of publication but, as I confirmed in my reply to my hon. Friend on 20 December 2010,  Official Report, column 955W, we intend to engage widely with hon. and right hon. Members, those from the other place, and a range of other interested groups, to ensure that the strategy takes account of their views and expertise.

Departmental Libraries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2010,  Official Report, columns 956-7W, on departmental libraries, which external consultants advised on the closure of his Department's library; and how much they were paid.

Alistair Burt: The external consultants were Tribal Avail. Their independent research and findings covered a wide scope of information management activities in addition to the library. The cost of this advice specifically on the library cannot be disaggregated but the cost of the full review was £47,338.41.

Departmental Libraries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2010,  Official Report, columns 956-7W, on departmental libraries, who conducted the internal review in 2003 that led to the closure of his Department's library; and if he will place a copy of the review's findings in the Library.

Alistair Burt: The internal review was conducted by Management Consultancy Services (MCS) within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We will arrange for a copy of the findings to be deposited in the Library.

Departmental Travel

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department has spent on travel for officials since May 2010.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spent £8,082,466 on travel between May to December 2010. These costs are for journeys booked through the FCO travel management company (Hogg Robinson) and do not include the cost of travel booked through local travel agencies at overseas posts, which is available only at disproportionate cost. This is in line with our need to operate a global network of over 250 posts and move staff between these posts.

European External Action Service

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent estimate he has made of the UK's contribution to the costs of the EU External Action Service.

Justine Greening: I have been asked to reply.
	The UK makes its contributions to the EU Budget as a whole and not to individual areas of spending within it. The UK's share, excluding the UK abatement, of financing the 2011 EU Budget is estimated to be 15%. The budget adopted for 2011 for the EU External Action Service was €464 million.
	The amending Budget Letter agreeing additional funding for the EEAS in 2011 was accompanied by a Council declaration calling for a savings plan to be presented by the chief operating officer as a priority task. We also secured a Council declaration calling for Budget neutrality and for a concrete plan to ensure cost savings and efficiencies in the future.

India: Embassies

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will assess the merits of opening a consulate in Chandigarh, Punjab, India.

Alistair Burt: The United Kingdom is represented by the British Trade Office in Chandigarh and also has a visa application centre there. Diplomatic and consular work in the state of Punjab is led by our high commission in New Delhi.
	The Government are committed to strengthening their partnership with India in order to work together to mutual benefit. This reflects India's increasingly important role in the world and our shared interest in democracy, sustained economic growth and global security. This renewed focus on India means that we will continue to review the resources required to deliver our ambitious agenda.

Morocco: al-Qaeda

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions  (a) he and  (b) Ministers in his Department have had with the Moroccan government on infiltration of Polisario by al-Qaeda in the Maghreb. [R]

Alistair Burt: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed this subject with the Government of Morocco.
	I visited Morocco in December 2010, where I discussed a broad range of issues relating to the Western Sahara. I also welcomed our co-operation with Morocco in the field of security. There is no evidence to suggest a formal link between the Polisario and al-Qaeda in the Maghreb. We are carefully monitoring the activities of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and their links with criminal organisations.

Office of UK Permanent Representative to EC

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which firm of headhunters will be used to help identify suitable external candidates to fill the position of UK Permanent Representative to the EU; and what brief that firm will be given.

Alistair Burt: None.

Palestinians: Children

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his contribution of 7 December 2010,  Official Report, columns 40-44WH, on the detention of Palestinian children, what steps his Department has taken to raise the issue of the detention of Palestinian children since 7 December 2010.

Alistair Burt: During my visit to the region on 16-19 January 2011, I raised general human right issues with a number of my Israeli interlocutors. On the specific issue of child prisoners, our consulate-general in Jerusalem and our embassy in Tel Aviv continue to monitor this issue closely, including attending court cases. Our consulate-general also works closely with Defence for Children International, funding a project to promote awareness of the issue, including among EU member states.

Racism: International Co-operation

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on UK representation at the proposed UN conference on anti-racism planned for 2011.

Jeremy Browne: The Government have not yet made a decision on our participation in the meeting in September to commemorate the 10(th) anniversary of the World Conference Against Racism. We recognise that it is common practice for the UN to convene meetings at regular periodic intervals to commemorate the adoption of its various social and human rights-related agendas such as the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. But previous meetings on this issue, including the initial World Conference Against Racism as well as its 2009 review conference, were overshadowed by unacceptable and offensive anti-Semitic rhetoric and behaviour.
	UK officials will work closely with colleagues in other countries to ensure that the September meeting does not become another platform for such behaviour and that the meeting addresses all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism. We will also work hard to ensure that any outcome from the meeting includes a clear statement on the need to further combat anti-Semitism as part of wider efforts to combat racism. Our position on participation and representation will remain under review as a result of these efforts.

Sudan: Diplomatic Relations

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what changes he plans for UK representation in south Sudan; and if he will make a statement.

Henry Bellingham: With the agreement of the Governments of Sudan and Southern Sudan, the British embassy office in Juba, Southern Sudan, has recently been upgraded to a consulate-general. A newly appointed consul-general will take up his post in the near future. Any further changes to the nature of UK representation will depend on the result of the referendum.

Tunisia

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to visit Tunisia to promote bilateral relations.

Alistair Burt: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has no plans to visit Tunisia at present.
	I visited Tunisia from 28-30 November 2010 where I engaged in discussions with my Tunisian hosts on energy and commercial opportunities, co-operation on counter-terrorism, regional issues and relations with the EU. I also spoke about the need to ensure that political and economic stability is built upon openness, tolerance and access to government and civil society.
	I have also met with the Tunisian Ambassador to the UK to discuss the recent social unrest in Tunisia and the importance of observing free and fair elections as soon as possible. We encourage maximum effort to restore law and order and call for full inclusion of all legal parties in the formation of a new government.

Western Sahara: Politics and Government

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions  (a) he and  (b) Ministers in his Department have had with their Algerian counterparts on proposals by the Moroccan government to offer limited autonomy to Western Sahara. [R]

Alistair Burt: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed this subject with his Algerian counterpart.
	I visited Algeria in November 2010, where I raised the issue of Western Sahara with the Government of Algeria. I re-iterated our commitment to the United Nations Security Council position, calling for a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.

TREASURY

40 Pence Per Mile Travel Allowance

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward proposals to increase the 40 pence per mile travel allowance for self-employed taxpayers.

Justine Greening: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given in response to the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (Gordon Banks) on 13 September 2010,  Official Report, column 785W.

Departmental Consultants

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has spent on consultancy since May 2010.

Justine Greening: HM Treasury spent (excluding VAT) £10.38 million on consultancy services during the period May-December 2010. These data relate to HM Treasury only and do not include any of the Treasury's Executive agencies.
	The Government have pledged to reduce consultancy spend. HM Treasury has implemented a consultancy freeze in line with current Cabinet Office policy, to ensure that consultants are only retained when there is an operational necessity.

Departmental Newspaper Press

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has spent on newspapers and magazines since May 2010.

Justine Greening: The Treasury spent £37,568 on newspapers and periodicals between 1 June 2010 and 31 December 2010.

Departmental Official Cars

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has spent on Government Car Service cars since 13 July 2010.

Justine Greening: During the period 13 July 2010 to 31 December 2010, invoices to the value of £97,000 were received by the Department in respect of the Government Car Service. In the equivalent period in 2009, £396,000 was spent.

Departmental Travel

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how much his Department has spent on travel by his officials since May 2010;
	(2)  how much his Department has spent on taxis since May 2010.

Justine Greening: The Treasury spent £813,000 on travel (of which travel by taxi in the UK was £59,000) by Ministers and officials between 1 June 2010 and 31 December 2010. The Department's accounting system does not differentiate between travel by Ministers and officials and the information could not be obtained within the disproportionate costs threshold.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Brian Binley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to introduce a fuel duty stabiliser.

Justine Greening: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 1 November 2010,  Official Report, column 665W, to the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith).

Excise Duties: Motor Vehicles

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the existing system for owners of vehicles licensed in the Historic Vehicle Taxation Class to make a Statutory Off Road Notification; and if he will bring forward proposals to reintroduce a rolling exemption from vehicle excise duty for vehicles constructed before 1 January 1973.

Justine Greening: The Statutory Off Road Notification system was introduced in 1998 and continues to offer effective tax-free storage of vehicles off the public road while ensuring the accuracy of the vehicle register. The Government have no plans to change the exemption against the current backdrop of fiscal consolidation.

Ex-Gratia Payments

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions ex-gratia payments in respect of delayed payment of age-related rebates arising from the late processing of electronically-submitted pension forms have been made in each of the six years.

Justine Greening: 403 ex-gratia payments arising from late processing were made in 2008-09 and 85 ex-gratia payments arising from late processing were made in 2009-10. HMRC hold information from which such statistics could be provided for the four years prior to 2008-09. However, the information is not readily available and to provide the information would require a manual trawl through all clerical age-related rebate case papers worked over the four year period.

Income Tax

Guto Bebb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the likely change in the number of people in single income households with children who will pay income tax at the higher rate from  (a) April 2012 and  (b) April 2013.

Justine Greening: The number of people in single income households with children who will pay income tax at the higher rate from April 2012 is estimated to be around 190,000. This is estimated to be around 15,000 higher than the equivalent number from April 2011.
	Estimates for April 2013 are not available.

Public Finance

Michael Meacher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of the budget deficit.

Justine Greening: Outturn figures for the Government deficit (Public Sector Net Borrowing) can be found in the public finances databank on the Treasury website:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/psf_statistics.htm
	In November, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility forecast Public Sector Net Borrowing to 2015-16. This is available at:
	http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/d/econ_fiscal_outlook_291110.pdf

Revenue and Customs: Correspondence

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much HM Revenue and Customs spent on address cleansing in each of the last five years.

Justine Greening: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) undertook a project costing £1.03 million in 2006-07 to enable cleansing of address data on a regular basis through HMRC IT systems by reference to reliable data from external organisations specialising in the collection and consolidation of address data.
	Since then HMRC has paid around £1.1 million per annum for the data.
	HMRC now undertakes address cleansing and matching on weekly and monthly cycles, and pay Capgemini under the service lines appropriate to Business Applications Support and Maintenance (S02) and Data Centre Operations (S04) to do this as part of their work in maintaining and supporting HMRC IT systems. The costs for this service cannot be separated out from the overall charge.

Revenue and Customs: Location

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what criteria he plans to apply to determine which members of HM Revenue and Customs staff are selected for compulsory relocation as a result of the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review;
	(2)  what his most recent estimate is of the number of compulsory relocations of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) staff between different tax offices which will arise from planned changes to HMRC's funding and organisation during the Comprehensive Spending Review period.

Justine Greening: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is currently preparing its business plan for the next four years in response to the spending review settlement. It involves the delivery of change right across the Department and the impact on lines of business, office locations and staffing is not yet known. HMRC expects to publish a high level HMRC Change and Delivery Plan around the end of January. This will be developed through the spring and beyond. Further iterations will contain the detail of impacts on individual jobs and offices.
	If staff moves are needed to fit in with changing business requirements these will be considered taking personal circumstances into account. All HMRC staff have a contract of employment specifying whether the jobholder is fully mobile or has limited mobility and mobility rules provide a framework within which staff moves can take place. The mobility rules facilitate redeployment of staff both within reasonable daily travel time and, for fully mobile staff, a move of home when this is necessary.

Technology

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what support his Department is providing to the Prime Minister's initiative to create a Tech City in East London.

Danny Alexander: The Treasury is leading a Growth Review, jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, in order to create the conditions for economic growth and to improve the dynamism of the UK business environment. This will cover issues of importance to technology based companies including access to finance, better regulation and competition. In its first phase, the review is focusing on a number of sectors with a high technology content including advanced manufacturing, business and professional services, digital and creative industries, and healthcare and life sciences. A first report will be made by Budget 2011.

VAT

Susan Elan Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what arrangements he plans to put in place for businesses without internet access to file their value added tax returns after online filing becomes compulsory.

Justine Greening: From 1 April 2010 existing VAT registered businesses with a VAT-exclusive turnover of £100,000 or more, and all businesses newly registering for VAT on or after that date, whatever their turnover, are legally required to file their VAT returns online. From April 2012, virtually alt VAT-registered businesses will have to file VAT returns online.
	HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offer support and advice for all customers who need help in converting to online filing, including the very small minority of customers without internet access. Customers without internet access have the option of appointing an agent to file on their behalf, or using other internet access which may be available to them (for example, through public libraries etc). Depending on the customer's precise circumstances, there may be other options available-HMRC contact centre staff can advise individual customers further.
	The vast majority of customers affected by the change have successfully made the conversion to online filing, and another 360,000 have switched to online filing voluntarily.

VAT: Child Poverty

Susan Elan Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made on levels of child poverty of the effects of the increase in the rate of value added tax.

Justine Greening: The increase in the main rate of VAT was announced by the Chancellor in the June Budget. In his Budget statement the Chancellor confirmed that the VAT increase is part of the overall plan to tackle the deficit.
	Neither the June Budget, nor the spending review will have any measurable impact on child poverty over the next two years, as detailed in Annex B (distributional analysis) and the Data Sources Document. The Government published their Child Poverty consultation recently, and will publish the first Child Poverty Strategy in spring 2011.

VAT: Fuels

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the receipts to accrue from  (a) value added tax and  (b) excise duty on petrol, diesel and other automotive fuels in each of the next four financial years;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the change in the level of receipts from the sale of petrol, diesel and other automotive fuels which will result from the increase in the rate of value added tax on 4 January 2011 in each of the next four financial years.

Justine Greening: Forecasts for the total amount of receipts expected in the next four financial years from excise duty on fuels are available in Table 4.6 of the Office of Budgetary Responsibility's "Economic and Fiscal Outlook" publication:
	http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/d/econ_fiscal_outlook_291110.pdf
	VAT forecasts and revenue impacts from policy changes are estimated at an aggregate level and are not available for individual goods and services.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon Emissions: Biofuels

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his classification of biomass as a zero-carbon technology includes consideration of emissions arising from the drying of biomass prior to the combustion of the fuel.

Gregory Barker: These emissions are considered. Under internationally agreed guidelines, the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of fossil fuel to dry the biomass prior to combustion for energy are estimated and reported by the country where the drying takes place.
	Greenhouse gas emissions associated with the combustion of biomass are counted as zero at the power plant under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines. This is because the corresponding changes in terrestrial carbon stocks are estimated and reported in the land-use change and forestry sector of the country where the harvesting for biomass took place, and are therefore not counted again at the point of use. This does not prevent the UK from using a life cycle approach in its domestic policies. The UK Government are introducing sustainability criteria for the use of solid and gaseous biomass, other than waste or wholly derived from waste, to generate electricity under the renewables obligation (RO) from April this year. These sustainability criteria include a minimum greenhouse gas emissions saving of 60% compared to fossil fuel and general restrictions on the use of materials from land important on carbon or biodiversity grounds. The greenhouse gas emissions will be assessed across a lifecycle that includes the emissions associated with the processing of feedstocks such as drying.
	Following a transition phase, where solid and gaseous biomass plants over 50 kW will be required to report on their performance against the criteria, from April 2013, solid and gaseous biomass electricity plants of 1 MW and over will be required to meet these criteria in order to receive support under the RO.

Carbon Emissions: Global Warming

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will undertake a study of the  (a) quantity,  (b) origins and  (c) contribution to global warming of black carbon emissions from the UK.

Gregory Barker: The Department has no current plans to commission a study specifically on the quantity, origins or contribution to global warming of black carbon emissions from the UK but the need for this is under review. The Department is, however, currently funding as part of the Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme a number of important studies on the climate impacts of black carbon more generally at a global scale. DEFRA is also funding a national network of black carbon measurements at 21 sites across the UK for air quality monitoring purposes.

Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with representatives of business organisations on the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency scheme.

Gregory Barker: The Government are committed to simplifying the CRC scheme. The Secretary of State and I regularly meet businesses to discuss climate change and energy issues including the CRC. My officials are also discussing how to simplify the policy landscape with a wide range of the CRC participants.

Carbon Sequestration

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he plans to apply a cap to the member of new entrant reserve applications for carbon capture and storage demonstration projects.

Charles Hendry: The Government do not intend to apply a cap to the number of new entrant reserve (NER) applications for carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects. All applications that meet the minimum NER eligibility criteria will be submitted to the European Investment Bank for consideration. As set out in our guidance on the NER, available from
	www.decc.gov.uk
	we will, however, prioritise applications from CCS projects in the NER process which are consistent with the domestic policy priorities for CCS.

Carbon Sequestration

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the next phase of carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects will include pre-combustion CCS.

Charles Hendry: As set out in the information note ("UK Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Commercial Scale Demonstration Programme: Delivery Projects 2-4 (Further Information)"), available from
	www.decc.gov.uk
	published by my Department in December, the next phase of CCS demonstration projects (Projects 2-4) will be open to projects that incorporate CO2 capture based on post-combustion, pre-combustion or oxyfuel methods.

Carbon Sequestration

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he plans to announce the next phase of carbon capture and storage projects.

Charles Hendry: As set out in the information note "UK Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Commercial Scale Demonstration Programme: Delivery Projects 2-4 (Further Information)"-published by my Department in December, we intend to launch the process to select further CCS projects under the programme following Budget 2011 which is available from:
	www.decc.gov.uk

Electricity: Prices

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 10 January 2011,  Official Report, column 142W, on energy: prices, what the increase in electricity prices for each decile of the population by income constitute in cash terms.

Charles Hendry: Pursuant to the answer of 10 January 2011,  Official Report, column 142W. Government launched consultations on a package of options for reforming the electricity market on 16 December 2010. The preferred package is to have a feed-in tariff with a 'contract for difference' model for supporting low-carbon generation in combination with a targeted capacity mechanism, carbon price support and an emissions performance standard. The following table shows the estimated absolute increase in average domestic electricity bills (expressed in real 2009 prices) for each income decile for years 2013, 2016 and 2020 compared to an electricity bill in the same year absent the package of reform options.
	
		
			  Impact of preferred electricity market reform options on average annual electricity bill 
			  £ (real 2009 prices) 
			  Equivalised disposable income decile  2013  2016  2020 
			 Bottom 2 12 6 
			 2 2 12 6 
			 3 2 13 6 
			 4 2 13 6 
			 5 3 14 7 
			 6 2 14 7 
			 7 3 15 7 
			 8 3 14 7 
			 9 3 14 7 
			 Top 3 14 7

Energy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effects on implementation of the proposals in his consultation document on electricity market reform on inward investment in the UK energy sector; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: The Electricity Market Reform consultation document sets out a range of mechanisms to secure the essential investment required in our electricity infrastructure. The consultation process is intended to garner views from industry, the financial sector, academics, NGOs and others on how we might best implement the proposals and specifically asks for information on how the mechanisms might impact levels of investment and new entry to the market. The process is intended to bring new entrants into the market, including inward investment from abroad.
	The Government will be setting out their final views in a White Paper later in 2011.

Energy

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much the Government has allocated to provide domestic energy customers with energy efficiency advice and information in 2011-12.

Gregory Barker: The Government have not yet finalised the funding for energy efficiency advice and information in 2011-12, but we can confirm that DECC will grant fund the Energy Saving Trust (EST) to deliver this advice and remains committed to ensuring that consumers receive comprehensive, high quality telephone and online advice in 2011-12.

Energy Supply

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with gas and electricity suppliers on trends in energy supply costs to domestic consumers; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: DECC Ministers and officials meet with suppliers on a regular basis to discuss market issues.
	We believe it is important that consumers have the lowest possible energy bills, consistent with the need to invest to reduce carbon emissions from energy and ensure security of supply.
	Ofgem therefore, monitors the market closely and reports quarterly on retail prices. Their latest report shows large increases in estimated supplier margins for the year ahead, largely due to recent price increases. We are disappointed on behalf of consumers by this development and welcome the announcement of Ofgem's review of the retail market. Ofgem will report on this review in March of this year. This announcement is available online at:
	http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Media/PressRel/Documents1/Retail%20Market%2026%20November.pdf

Energy Supply: Biofuels

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what information his Department holds on the proportion of biomass used in heating and electricity generation in the UK which is imported; and how much biomass was imported for such purposes from each country in the latest period for which figures are available.

Gregory Barker: DECC publishes data on the imports of straw, short rotation coppice and other plant-based biomass for energy use. Imports of these fuels represented 36 per cent of total supply of these fuels for energy use in 2009. DECC does not hold information on the source of these imports. Information on wood imports is collected by HM Revenue and Customs as part of its overseas trade statistics but these data do not indicate the final use of the wood. As such, DECC does not have a figure for the proportion of imports of wood used for energy use.
	As referred to in PQ 2010-1241, from April 2009, the renewables obligation required electricity generators over 50 kilowatts to submit an annual sustainability report to Ofgem setting out the available information on their biomass feedstocks, including country of origin. Information for the first reporting period is available from Ofgem's website at:
	http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Pages/MoreInformation .aspx?docid=222&refer=Sustainability/Environment/RenewablOb1

Energy: Prices

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will use his powers under the Energy Act 2010 to introduce social pricing for low-income families with children.

Gregory Barker: The coalition Government announced in the spending review that energy suppliers will be required from April 2011 to provide greater help with the financial costs of energy bills to more of the most vulnerable fuel poor households. This will be delivered through the Warm Home Discount-with total support of £250 million in 2011-12 rising to £310 million in 2014-15.
	We have recently consulted on the detailed policy design, including eligibility and targeting methods and a response to this consultation will be published in due course.

Energy: Prices

Therese Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will estimate the number of people  (a) in Suffolk Coastal constituency and  (b) nationally who have entered fuel poverty as a result of recent trends in the price of heating oil.

Gregory Barker: DECC does not have any information on the number of households entering fuel poverty as a result of recent trends in heating oil prices at either a national or regional level.
	However, as seen in the following tables, DECC does have estimates of the number of households in England and the East of England Government office region using heating oil to heat their homes and the proportion of these that are fuel poor. The most recent data currently available relates to 2008.
	
		
			  East of England (Government office region) 
			   Number of households using heating oil (Thousand)  Number of these households that are fuel poor (Thousand)  Proportion of 'heating oil' households in fuel poverty (Percentage) 
			 2007 202 43 21 
			 2008 209 63 30 
		
	
	
		
			  England 
			   Number of households using heating oil (Thousand)  Number of these households that are fuel poor (Thousand)  Proportion of 'heating oil' households in fuel poverty (Percentage) 
			 2007 926 214 23 
			 2008 828 236 29

Fuel Oil

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of households in  (a) England,  (b) Scotland,  (c) Wales and  (d) Northern Ireland who rely on the use of domestic heating oil.

Gregory Barker: The latest figures available show that around 828,000 households in England; 155,000 in Scotland; 143,000 in Wales and 527,000 in Northern Ireland use domestic heating oil as their main heating fuel.
	These figures are estimated by each devolved Administration from their latest housing and house condition surveys.

Fuel Oil

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the monetary value of heating oil sales in  (a) England,  (b) Scotland,  (c) Wales and  (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

Charles Hendry: The following table details UK expenditure on heating oils by the domestic and non-domestic sector.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Domestic  Non-domestic 
			   Burning oil  Gas oil  Burning oil  Gas oil  Fuel oil 
			 2005 850 50 450 1,570 80 
			 2006 1,030 70 580 1,670 150 
			 2007 950 80 570 1,670 200 
			 2008 1,420 110 730 2,350 260 
			 2009 1,020 70 540 1,670 190 
			  Source: Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) 2010 
		
	
	Neither the domestic nor the non-domestic data above are able to be split by country. A large proportion of the non-domestic fuel spend shown above will be used for non-heating purposes.
	Data from the ONS's Family Spending report (table A3 7) suggest that on average for the period 2007-09, households in England spent £0.90/week, in Scotland £1.40/week, in Wales £2.50/week and in Northern Ireland £13.80/week on home fuels excluding gas and electricity.

Met Office

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what written long range winter weather forecast his Department received from the Met Office in October 2010.

Gregory Barker: The Met Office provided a written forecast to the Cabinet Office in October, which was then shared with the Department.
	The forecast stated that early to mid-winter in northern Europe was likely to be colder and drier than the 1971 to 2000 average, with an increased risk of a cold and wintry start.

Methane: Natural Gas

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has made an assessment of the potential effects of  (a) shale gas and  (b) coalbed methane exploration on the development of low-carbon energy.

Charles Hendry: The impact of unconventional gas production on the development of low-carbon energy in the UK will be principally driven by its impact on UK gas prices. The impact of further unconventional production on UK prices will depend on the extent and location of any production, whether production levels exceed or fall short of market expectations, and how it alters the costs of the marginal source of gas supply.
	However, the prospects for unconventional gas are only one driver for gas prices. The future path of UK gas prices will also be driven by the global demand for gas, the price of other fuels, the tightness in different parts of the supply chain, the reliability of different supplies and the cost of producing conventional gas.
	Under current market arrangements, if gas prices were to fall and if there were not an offsetting increase in carbon prices then this could result in less investment in low-carbon generation and greater investment in gas-fired generation. The opposite could result if gas prices were to rise.

Methane: Natural Gas

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will assess the potential effects of exploration of  (a) shale gas and  (b) coalbed methane on meeting UK climate change targets.

Charles Hendry: Shale gas and coalbed methane have not yet been commercially proven on a large scale in the UK, so it is too early to judge any potential effects on UK climate change targets.

Natural Gas

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on a moratorium on shale gas exploration pending the report of the US Environmental Protection Agency on risks to humans and the environment.

Charles Hendry: Government are aware there have been reports from US of issues linked to some shale gas projects.
	The UK has a long history of onshore gas exploration, the range of techniques employed in shale gas drilling and testing operations is broadly similar to those used for orthodox gas production, and there is a strong regulatory safety and environmental regime in place administered by the Health and Safety Executive, local authorities and the relevant environmental agencies to ensure that potential risks to safety or the environment are properly managed.
	There are only a small number of companies pursuing shale gas extraction in the UK at present and the size of this resource has still yet to be quantified. We would not expect high levels of activity over the next few years.
	On the basis of available information, the Department sees no need for a moratorium on shale gas activities in the UK.

Natural Gas

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what independent scientific advice he has sought on the environmental implications of drilling for shale gas.

Charles Hendry: It has not been necessary to seek independent scientific advice. There is a robust regulatory system in place to ensure any environmental implications are minimised. These would be assessed on a site-specific basis by the Environment Agency (EA), in England and Wales, via their role as a statutory consultee in the planning process or as part of their consideration of the need for, and subsequent response to, an application for an environmental permit (under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010). The EA has its own in-house technical expertise which is used to support its role in protecting and managing water quality and resources and this expertise is available to Government.
	In addition the British Geological Survey (BGS) has geological expertise and holds the nation's base data on geological conditions. On behalf of DECC, BGS recently carried out a study on the prospectivity of shale gas in the UK. The study has been placed on DECC's oil and gas website and can be found via the following weblink:
	https://www.og.decc.gov.uk/upstream/licensing/shalegas.pdf
	In terms of environmental emissions, there is no current commercial production of shale gas within UK territory and no assessment of the potential impact on global warming of such operations has been made.
	More generally Government and their regulatory agencies will study the experience already gained in other countries, notably the US, though it cannot be assumed that US experience will necessarily be equally relevant to UK conditions or to the UK regulatory framework.

Nuclear Power Stations

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department has assessed the supply of nuclear technicians required for the development of new nuclear power stations.

Charles Hendry: Yes. Cogent, the sector skills council, have created two pieces of labour market research to establish the current state of skills in the industry and model the future skills requirements. The second report "Next Generation, Skills for New Build Nuclear" was published in March 2010 in response to a request from the Nuclear Development Forum to research capacity, capability and timeline to secure a new build nuclear programme up to 2025. The report assessed the skills landscape and identified areas where there was a risk of there not being enough skilled workers. It recommends mitigating actions which the Department is working with skills bodies to implement.

Renewable Energy

Anne McGuire: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for what reasons the Renewables Obligation does not require minimum energy efficiency standards in respect of eligibility for biomass energy support; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: The renewables obligation promotes the efficient use of biomass for electricity in two ways. Firstly, renewables obligation certificates are only rewarded for actual electricity generated, the less efficient the generation the less ROCs they will receive.
	Secondly, the UK Government are introducing sustainability criteria for the use of solid and gaseous biomass (other than waste or wholly derived from waste) to generate electricity under the renewables obligation (RO) from April this year. These sustainability criteria include a minimum greenhouse gas emissions saving of 60% compared to fossil fuel assessed across a lifecycle that includes consideration of the energy conversion efficiency of the generating plant.
	Following a transition phase, where solid and gaseous biomass plants over 50 kilowatts will be required to report on their performance against the criteria, from April 2013 biomass electricity plants of 1 megawatt and over will be required to meet these criteria in order to receive support under the RO.

Renewable Energy: Finance

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the level of renewable energy needed to meet its EU 2020 target; and how much such energy it aims to generate from  (a) nuclear,  (b) carbon capture and storage coal,  (c) onshore wind,  (d) offshore wind,  (e) tidal and  (f) solar sources.

Charles Hendry: The UK has a target to generate 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. The Government are committed to achieving this target.
	Recent analysis indicates that this will require overall renewable energy generation of 234 terawatt hours (TWh) across the electricity, heat and transport sectors, based on latest central projections of energy consumption for 2020 published June 2010.
	 Source:
	http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/projections/proiections.aspx
	This does not include generation from nuclear or carbon capture and storage coal as these are not covered in the renewable energy directive.
	 Generation from specific renewable energy sources
	For 2020, our modelling estimates that we may see the following levels of generation:
	Onshore wind: 34TWh
	Offshore wind: 44TWh
	Tidal energy: around 4TWh of wave and tidal generation
	Solar: up to 2TWh solar PV.
	These are central estimates. The exact shares of effort between sectors and technologies will depend on how investors respond to the renewable financial incentives put in place, and the relative success in overcoming non-financial barriers to renewables deployment such as planning, supply chain and grid issues.
	 CCS
	The Government are committed to continuing public sector investment in four CCS demonstration projects, this programme could deliver around 1.5GW of CCS generating capacity by 2020.
	 Nuclear Power
	The draft revised National Policy Statements set out there is an urgent need for a diverse range of new energy infrastructure and for new nuclear power to be free to contribute as much as possible towards meeting the need for 18GW of new non-renewable capacity by 2025.

Renewable Energy: Wood

Anne McGuire: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the contribution of the wood panel industry to the production of renewable heat in each of the last five years.

Gregory Barker: In 2009, the wood panel industry is estimated to have produced 1,639 GWh of renewable heat, from 395,469 tonnes of wood. Data are not available for years preceding this. Industry as a whole produced approximately 4,501 GWh of renewable heat in 2009.

Renewable Energy: Wood

Anne McGuire: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department has made an assessment of the life-cycle carbon balance of  (a) processing wood and  (b) electricity generation from wood; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: The Department has not made an assessment of the life cycle carbon balance of processing wood. However, I can confirm that the process itself is highly energy intensive; the wood panel industry is one of the most energy intensive industries in the UK
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/consult_carbon_price_support.htm
	According to the results of the 4(th) target period assessment of the climate change agreements, the sector reported that 2,550,761,208 kWh of energy with 458,355 tonnes of CO2 was used to produce 3,257,582m3 of wood panel. Their performance during this period was therefore 783 kWhp and 0.14 tonnes CO2 per m3 of wood panel produced.
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/What%20we%20do/Global%20climate%20change%20and%20energy/Tackling %20Climate%20Change/ccas/175-cca-4th-target.pdf
	Estimates of the life-cycle carbon balance of electricity generation from wood are dependent on a number of factors; the size and efficiency of the energy generating plant, the forestry planting, rotation and harvesting cycle, and the method of collecting, transporting and processing the wood. Typical life cycle carbon balances have been estimated by the Environment Agency.
	http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Biomass__carbon_sink_or_carbon_sinner_summary_report.pdf
	Their analysis shows that life-cycle emissions for electricity generated by clean waste wood or short rotation coppice chips can vary from 50-300 kg CO2/MWh.

Renewable Energy: Wood

Anne McGuire: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what  (a) mechanism and  (b) criteria his Department plans to apply to assess the sustainability of large-scale wood biomass energy plants of 50 megawatts and over; and if he will take into account the potential effects of such plants on (i) UK wood processing industries and (ii) UK wood markets.

Charles Hendry: We are introducing sustainability criteria for the use of solid biomass, including wood fuels, to generate electricity under the renewables obligation (RO) from April this year. These criteria include a minimum greenhouse gas emissions saving of 60% compared to fossil fuel and general restrictions on the use of materials from land important on carbon or biodiversity grounds. Following a transition phase, where solid biomass plants over 50 kilowatts will be required to report on their performance against the criteria, from April 2013, solid biomass electricity plants of 1 megawatt and above will be required to meet these criteria in order to receive support under the RO. The sustainability criteria will not apply to solid biomass that is waste or wholly derived from waste.
	The same set of sustainability criteria will be applied to the use of UK and imported solid biomass, and to both new and existing plants.
	These changes build on the existing requirement under the RO for biomass plants over 50 kilowatts to report to the best of the operator's knowledge and belief on a range of matters relating to the biomass used. These include the type and form of the biomass, its country of origin and whether the biomass is an energy crop or waste. This will provide valuable information on the biomass being used for large-scale electricity generation in the UK and the potential effects on the UK wood industries.
	Our analysis of future UK bio-electricity supply takes into account the demand of the wood processing and other user industries for biomass feedstocks.

Renewable Energy: Wood

Anne McGuire: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether  (a) the effect on existing wood industries and  (b) the sustainability of wood as a feedstock is taken into account in deciding whether to grant planning permission for large-scale biomass energy projects of 50 megawatts and over.

Charles Hendry: In respect of the effect on existing wood industries, commercial interests are not a relevant planning matter. In respect of the sustainability of wood as a feedstock, Government policy is that mechanisms beyond the planning system in the form of the renewables obligation are better placed to ensure the sustainability of fuel used in large-scale biomass electricity generating stations.

Sellafield: Plutonium

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when his Department commissioned its cost-benefit analysis of constructing a new mixed oxide plutonium fuels plant in Sellafield; who is conducting the analysis; when the contract for the analysis was put out to tender; where the tender was advertised; what the monetary value of the contract is; and when he expects to receive the analysis.

Charles Hendry: DECC intends shortly to publish a public consultation on the options for the long-term management of the UK's civil plutonium. As part of the work supporting that consultation, the Government commissioned the NDA to examine the costs of the various options, which included the reuse of the plutonium to make MOX fuel. No external work has been commissioned at this stage. We anticipate that further analysis of the costs for a number of options will be necessary to support a final decision, which will only be taken following the consultation process.

Solar Power: Housing

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Department for Communities and Local Government on potential changes to building regulations to encourage the fitting of photovoltaic cells to new houses; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: There are regular discussions between DECC and the Department for Communities and Local Government on zero carbon homes policy. We remain committed to ensuring that new homes do not add to our carbon footprint but we do not want to impose new standards that dictate exactly how every home should be built. We are considering recommendations from an interim report from the zero carbon hub on what standards should be achievable onsite.

Waste Disposal: Storage

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what storage arrangements there are for high-level wastes; and what arrangements are planned for such storage prior to the construction of a geological disposal facility.

Charles Hendry: High level radioactive waste (HLW) arises as a liquid from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and all the UK's current HLW is located at Sellafield where reprocessing takes place. Liquid HLW is stored at Sellafield in custom designed tanks before being immobilised in a passively safe, solid glass waste-form, through a process known as vitrification. The solid HLW is safely stored and monitored in a purpose built store at Sellafield pending return to overseas customers or final disposal in the proposed geological disposal facility. The UK has a strong and effective nuclear safety regulatory regime that ensures the safe storage and management of radioactive waste including HLW.

Wind Power

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many planning approvals for wind farms in England over the last year have not been proceeded with; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: 22 wind farm applications were approved in 2010. Of these, one is already operational, one is under construction and the remaining 20 are awaiting construction. The amount of time for wind farms to be completed following planning approval depends on various factors including planning conditions, the size of the wind farm and grid availability. We estimate that on average it takes about two years for a wind farm to become operational following planning approval.

Wind Power: Energy

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the average annual amount of energy to be generated by a wind turbine built under a round 3 deep water licence.

Charles Hendry: In 2009, UK offshore wind farms typically generated 2.95 GWh per MW of installed capacity over the course of the year. This is based on an unchanged configuration load factor(1) for offshore wind in 2009 of 33.7%.
	It is expected that load factors(2) for offshore wind will increase over time, leading to greater efficiencies in the form of increased generation per MW of installed capacity. DECC analysis suggests the following range of load factor estimates for round 3 sites. These are based on the expected performance of turbines at UK offshore sites (based on real wind speed data from the Meteorological Office).
	(1) 2009 offshore wind load factor from table 7.4 of the Digest of UK Energy Statistics, 2010, available at:
	http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/source/renewables/renewables.aspx
	(2) Load factor definition: the amount of actual generation as a proportion of the maximum possible generation in a given time period. Load factor on an 'unchanged configuration' is a load factor calculated using just those wind farms that have been operating continually, and with the same configuration, throughout the year. Further information on this measure can be found in Energy Trends, March 2006, pages 28 to 32 at:
	http://decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/statistics/publications/trends/articles_issue/file43950.pdf
	
		
			  Load factor  Percentage 
			 2009 33.7 
			 Lower estimate (1)37 
			 Upper estimate (2)42 
			 (1 )Based on the expected output of a 5MW turbine at Dogger Bank at availability of 90%. (2) Based on expected output of offshore turbines averaged from 15 UK offshore sites at 85% availability. For comparison Horns Rev wind farm in Denmark is already achieving capacity factors of 43%. 
		
	
	It is expected that round 3 projects (which will be at varying depths) will achieve load factors in the region of 37-42%. This translates into generation of between 3.2 and 3.8 GWh per MW of installed capacity over the course of the year.
	The main reasons for the increase are increased availability of the turbines (due to better operation and maintenance infrastructure and/or more reliable turbines) and better wind conditions as wind farms are located further offshore.
	 Note:
	DECC statistics can be downloaded from:
	http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/publications/trends/articles_issue/articles_issue.aspx

EDUCATION

Aimhigher Programme

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of activities delivered under the Aimhigher programme for young people from low-income backgrounds wishing to go to university in each year since 2004 under the programme; and how many activities he expects to be delivered in the academic year 2011-12 following the end of the Aimhigher programme.

David Willetts: I have been asked to reply.
	Aimhigher is managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). HEFCE have provided the following information on the number of activities undertaken by Aimhigher partnerships.
	Data are not available on individual participants or before 2007-08.
	The year 2007-08 was a pilot for gathering the number of activities and the information is based on 26 of the then 45 partnerships.
	
		
			   Number of activities 
			 2007-08 17,251 
			 2008-09 26,442 
			 2009-10 (1)46,028 
			 (1) Figures for 2009-10 are not comparable with previous years due to a change in the way data was collected. 
		
	
	We have made no estimate of the number of activities that will be delivered in 2011-12.
	Universities, schools and colleges have learned much from Aimhigher about 'what works'. Universities already use this to inform their own outreach activities covered by existing access agreements, agreed with the Office for Fair Access, and the widening participation strategic assessments they submit to HEFCE. Helping young people find out about higher education is a normal part of what schools do and schools will receive additional support through the pupil premium from April 2011.

Child Benefit

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to the media statement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families reported on 4 October 2010, what discussions the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families has had with  (a) him and  (b) HM Treasury Ministers on adjustment to Government proposals on child benefit for higher rate taxpayers.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 14 December 2010
	I have frequent discussions with the Secretary of State and other Ministers about all aspects of my portfolio and related issues.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he undertook an equality impact assessment before making the decision to abolish the education maintenance allowance.

Nick Gibb: Discussions on distributional impacts, including impacts on equality, informed the process for spending review discussions and decisions, and this Department has worked closely with HM Treasury to assess the impact on different sections of society.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much was paid to pupils in payments for reaching pre-agreed targets in addition to education maintenance allowance payments in each year for which figures are available; and how many pupils received such payments in each such year.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 19 January 2011
	This is a matter for the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) who operate the education maintenance allowance for the Department for Education and manage the Capita contract. Peter Lauener, the YPLA's chief executive, will write to the hon. Member for Witham with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.

Education Maintenance Allowance: Young Offenders

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many young offenders received education maintenance allowance payments in each year for which figures are available; and how much was paid to young offenders in such payments in each such year.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 19 January 2011
	This is a matter for the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) who operate the education maintenance allowance for the Department for Education and manage the Capita contract. Peter Lauener, the YPLA's chief executive, will write to the hon. Member for Witham with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.

Family Intervention Projects

Laura Sandys: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of family intervention projects in  (a) South Thanet constituency and  (b) England.

Tim Loughton: Data from official statistics for intensive family interventions, published on 15 September 2010, show reductions in a number of issues at the end of the intervention compared to at the start, including reductions in school truancy, exclusions and poor behaviour at school; workless households; family functioning (poor parenting, family breakdown, domestic violence and child protection issues); crime and antisocial behaviour; and health issues (including drug and alcohol misuse and mental health problems). A more detailed analytical report looking at factors that can lead to successful outcomes is due to be published on the 25 November. The intensive family intervention service in Kent includes the South Thanet constituency. Our records show that, to date, five families have successfully completed an intervention and the service is currently working with another 10 families.

Further Education: Student Numbers

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many 14 and 15-year-olds study at further education or sixth-form college five days a week; and how many of these students are enrolled at  (a) the college and  (b) a local school.

Nick Gibb: Details of all students studying at further education or sixth-form colleges, including those aged under 16, is collected and made available by the Data Service. The number of 14 and 15-year-olds studying full-time during the 2009/10 academic year is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Students aged 14 and 15 studying full time at an FE centre, including a sixth-form college, England, 2009/10 
			   Age 14  Age 15  Total 
			 Full-time full-year 700 3,000 3,700 
			 Full-time part-year 700 4,300 5,000 
			 Total 1,300 7,400 8,700 
			  Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. Totals may not appear to equal the sum of the component figures because of the rounding. 2. Age 14 or 15 at the start of the academic year.  Source: 2009/10 Individualised Learner Record final L04 dataset. 
		
	
	However, information on where the student is actually enrolled is not collected and therefore it is not possible to provide details of whether these 14 and 15-year-old students were enrolled at the college or a local school.

Higher Education

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on the influence of parental income on prospective higher education students' university choices; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 15 December 2010
	The Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills have discussed the changes to higher education funding and student finance at Cabinet. Statements to the House of Commons on this subject reflect the Government position, as agreed at Cabinet meetings.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much additional funding schools in County Durham will receive from the pupil premium in the academic year  (a) 2010-11 and  (b) 2011-12.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 20 December 2010
	On 13 December, the Government announced that in 2011-12, the level of the pupil premium will be £430 per pupil and will be the same for every deprived pupil, no matter where they live. The pupil premium will be allocated to those pupils eligible for free school meals identified by the January 2011 census figures for pupils in years from Reception to Year 11. The premium will be funded by financial year not academic year. However, were the January 2010 census figures used then there would be a notional allocation for pupils in Durham of £6 million. This figure could rise or fall depending on the number of eligible pupils at January 2011, and is indicative only.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of pupils in East Staffordshire eligible for the pupil premium.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 20 December 2010
	We have made estimates of the number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium for each local authority, based on 2010 data. According to these estimates for Staffordshire, 13,250 pupils eligible for free school meals would attract the premium, as well as 485 children looked after by the local authority, and 315 children of service personnel. This totals 14,050 pupils eligible for the pupil premium in Staffordshire, attracting a pupil premium of £5.97 million in total. The actual level number of eligible pupils in Staffordshire and therefore the amount payable will be taken from the January 2011 school census.

Schools: Reading

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to ensure that schools are able to exercise maximum choice in the way in which they support vulnerable primary school pupils to improve reading and numeracy skills.

Nick Gibb: We believe that schools are best placed to decide the most appropriate support for their pupils. Funding for Every Child a Reader and Every Child Counts forms part of the schools budget and it will be for local authorities, in consultation with their schools forum, to decide whether to take account of the previous level of this funding when making their 2011-12 allocations to schools.
	The Pupil Premium will allocate funding for deprived pupils, which head teachers can decide how best to spend. However, the Government will be making available to schools the latest and best evidence and information on the activities, interventions and strategies that can help raise the attainment of those pupils who will benefit from the Pupil Premium.
	There is evidence that the Every Child programmes have had a positive impact in raising the attainment of FSM pupils. All three programmes are currently undergoing independent evaluations, to report in late 2010-early 2011, which will give a substantive view of the impact of the programmes.
	We are currently working through proposals for literacy and numeracy intervention beyond September 2011, which is subject to final decisions following the spending review.

Schools: Rural Areas

Laura Sandys: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to ensure that rural primary schools are not disadvantaged by local authority budget allocations deploying the Mosaic formula.

Nick Gibb: For 2011-12, we are continuing with the current methodology for funding local authorities and schools to allow for the clear and transparent introduction of the pupil premium. This means that local authorities will continue to be responsible, in consultation with their Schools Forums, for deciding how to allocate money between the schools they maintain. However, a minimum funding guarantee will apply so that no school will see a reduction in its budget compared with 2010-11 of more than 1.5% per pupil.
	The pupil premium will be introduced from April 2011 and will be paid at the same rate-£430-per deprived child across the country. The measure of deprivation we are using for the premium in 2011-12 will be children known to be eligible for free school meals as recorded in the Schools Census in January 2011.

Schools: Sportsgrounds

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of all-weather sports pitches in use by  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 21 December 2010
	No estimate has been made by the Department for Education of the number of all-weather sports pitches in use in schools in England.

Schools: Standards

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many specialist sports  (a) schools and  (b) colleges the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families has visited since his appointment; what assessment he made of the work of each such establishment; and if he will make a statement.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 6 December 2010
	Since May 2010, I have visited 12 schools, where I have had the chance to see high quality PE and sport. None of the 12 schools has been a school or college with a specialism in sport. The purpose of visiting any educational institution is not to assess their work-that is the role of Ofsted-but to gain a greater insight into how they operate and deal with a variety of issues.

Schools: Waltham Forest

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what funding his Department has allocated to  (a) academies,  (b) free schools and  (c) local authority schools in the London borough of Waltham Forest for 2011-12.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 10 January 2011
	On 13 December, the Department announced the school funding settlement for 2011-12 and the methodology for funding academies.
	There is no figure currently available for how much funding will be allocated to Waltham Forest for academies and free schools as this will depend on how many academies and free schools there are in Waltham Forest in 2011-12.
	We have published on our website the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Guaranteed Units of Funding (GUF) per pupil for all local authorities in England. In 2011-12, the GUF for Waltham Forest maintained schools will be £5,841.83. The final DSG allocations for local authorities will be based on the January 2011 pupil count and will be published in summer 2011.

JUSTICE

Appeals: Social Security Benefits

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applicants for  (a) incapacity benefit and  (b) employment support allowance whose claims were rejected had their appeal heard by the Tribunals Service within (i) three, (ii) four, (iii) five, (iv) six and (v) more than six months of the original decision to disallow the claim.

Jonathan Djanogly: The following table shows the time taken from the date of a disputed Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) decision for incapacity benefit and employment support allowance cases to the date of clearance by the Tribunals Service.
	
		
			  Number of weeks from DWP decision to TS appeal hearing 
			  Clearance times 2009-10  Date of DWP decision to tribunal hearing 
			  Number of weeks  Incapacity benefit  Employment support allowance 
			 Fewer than 4 weeks 0 4 
			 Fewer than 8 weeks 92 253 
			 Fewer than 12 weeks 1,172 2,245 
			 Fewer than 16 weeks 3,724 5,658 
			 Fewer than 20 weeks 6,057 8,154 
			 Fewer than 24 weeks 8,101 10,102 
			 Over 24 weeks 27,422 23,916 
			  Notes: 1. Data are reported in four-week blocks and are not available in calendar months. Clearance refers to cases that were decided by a tribunal. Data are provided from the Tribunals Service's G2 system. 2. Includes dates of disputed decision (and appeal lodgement) provided by DWP and inputted by Tribunals Service into its processing system. 
		
	
	The Tribunals Service's target is to issue a final decision for 75% of Social Security and Child Support appeals within 16 weeks of receipt from the DWP. Incapacity benefit appeals take on average 11.81 weeks and employment support allowance appeals 9.2 weeks from the date of the original DWP decision to arrive at the Tribunals Service. The Tribunals Service is currently clearing 62% of incapacity benefit appeals and 65% of employment support allowance appeals within 16 weeks.
	Performance below target has resulted from an unexpectedly high level of appeals, particularly against employment support allowance decisions. In response, the Tribunals Service has significantly increased its capacity and, nationally, 47% more Social Security and Child Support appeals were cleared in September 2010 compared to September 2009. Further capacity increases are in hand.

Court: Closures

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effects of proposed court closures on the level of fines and fees imposed and collected.

Jonathan Djanogly: The impact assessment accompanying the consultation response papers assumes that the court closure programme does not impact on service delivery. As the volume of work is not expected to rise or fall as a result of the court estate rationalisation programme and there is sufficient capacity at recipient courts to undertake work from closing courts, it is not anticipated that fines or fees imposed and collected will be significantly affected.

Court: Closures

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the level of savings to the public purse likely to accrue as a result of the closure of courts in Wales as announced on 14 December 2010.

Jonathan Djanogly: Across the spending review period, the estimated gross resource saving accruing from the closure of courts in Wales announced on 14 December is £2.4 million.
	This gross resource saving figure reflects the position as at 14 December and excludes any savings on staff costs, maintenance costs and non-cash costs.

Court: Closures

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many representations he received on his proposed closure of courts in Wales; and how many such representations supported his proposals.

Jonathan Djanogly: Excluding responses to the consultation on a national level, there were a total of 217 responses to the consultation on the provision of court services in Wales. Of these, 12 related to the proposals across Wales, of which four were broadly supportive, five were generally opposed and three were neutral, and 205 were in respect of a particular court or courts.
	Full details of the response to consultation are available in consultation paper CP HMCS 15/10, which can be found on the Ministry of Justice website at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/consultation-cp15-10.htm

Court: Closures

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what timetable he has set for closure of the courts in Wales which were the subject of his announcement of 14 December 2010.

Jonathan Djanogly: I cannot confirm any closure dates at this time as implementation plans for closures are currently being developed by HMCS in discussion with staff and the judiciary. HMCS aims to confirm the proposed dates for closure in February.

Court: Closures

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost of the maintenance backlog was for each court in Wales included in the consultation for court closures as at 14 December 2010.

Jonathan Djanogly: I refer the hon. Member to my answer to him of 21 December 2010,  Official Report, column 1164W.

Dartmoor Prison

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has for the future of HM Prison Dartmoor.

Crispin Blunt: The role and functions of prisons is kept under regular review, taking into account a number of factors affecting the requirements of a fit for purpose custodial estate. Decisions on the long-term future of the estate, including Dartmoor prison, will be made in the light of the review of rehabilitation and sentencing and the need to provide a secure and modern prison estate, while improving efficiency and value for money.

Departmental Working Conditions

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his Department's policy is on  (a) the space provided per employee, (b) home working and  (c) hot desking; how many employees it has on average per desk; and how much space on average there is per employee.

Crispin Blunt: To achieve savings from its administrative estate, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is working towards the Government standard of eight square metres per person and 80% desking (eight desks to 10 members of staff) in those buildings where it is possible to do so. In buildings which are not suitable for flexible working, the MOJ is working towards providing a maximum of 10 square metres per person across its administrative estate.
	There is currently 14.7m(2) and 1.2 desks per full-time employee across the estate and the MOJ is working to reduce this figure and ensure more efficient use of its property.
	Homeworking is an option for all MOJ staff, provided that issues, such as health and safety obligations, insurance, furniture and equipment, confidentiality, business needs of the unit and regular contact, are fully addressed.

Fines: Debts

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with enforcement agencies on the procedures and regulatory framework for the collection of  (a) fines and  (b) outstanding debts; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: HMCS officials regularly have discussions with enforcement agencies about improving HMCS enforcement procedures and will continue to do so.

Ford Prison

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners at HM Prison Ford have had all privileges withdrawn as a consequence of participation in the recent disturbances.

Crispin Blunt: All the prisoners thought to have been involved in the recent disturbance have since been transferred out of HMP Ford, and therefore no prisoners currently there have had privileges withdrawn as a result.
	A number of the prisoners identified as possible perpetrators were placed on report in accordance with prison rules and regulations. These adjudications have been opened but remanded for the police investigation to be concluded.

Ford Prison

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners involved in the recent disturbances at HM Prison Ford have been transferred to other prisons  (a) temporarily and  (b) for the remainder of their sentence; and to which prisons.

Crispin Blunt: 86 prisoners have been transferred out of Ford as a result of the disturbance. This group of prisoners contains those identified as possibly involved and those moved because of damage to the accommodation. Where each of these prisoners completes their sentence will depend on individual risk assessments, and the outcome of the police and NOMS investigations.
	The prisoners were moved to the following establishments:
	Bedford
	Peterborough
	Winchester
	Bullingdon
	Hewell
	Belmarsh
	Wandsworth
	Lewes
	Camp Hill
	Springhill.

Ford Prison

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether there was any change in the level of resources provided to HM Prison Ford as a result of the £325 million reduction in his Department's budget for 2009-10 announced in June 2010.

Crispin Blunt: The £325 million reduction to the Department's budget announced in May 2010, resulted in a resource reduction of £130,203 to HM Prison Ford.

Ford Prison

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he took on receiving the last Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board on HM Prison Ford.

Crispin Blunt: As has been the practice for a number of years Ministers do not directly receive draft Independent Monitoring Board reports when the IMBs submit them. The reports are firstly submitted to the IMB Secretariat. Then NOMS officials prepare a draft response to all the points on which the individual IMBs have requested a response both directed to Ministers and NOMS. I then consider the reply and, having also examined the issues raised directly for Ministers, write to the Chair. At the time of the disturbance the Board had submitted its report and the draft response was being prepared. The report was available in Gold Command directing the incident at Ford, where I first saw it. It was confirmed to me that the report would form part of the documentation of the investigation into the incident. I will respond to the Chair of the IMB in February after I have been informed of the findings of the NOMS investigation report.

Legal Aid

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in  (a) England and  (b) Leeds North West constituency applied for legal aid in each of the last five years.

Jonathan Djanogly: Applications for civil legal aid advice are made to individual providers, and we record the number of instances of advice provided, rather than the number of applications made. All applications are based on the Solicitor's location, which may not reflect where the client is based. Applications for civil legal aid representation are made to the Legal Services Commission. Not all applications are granted. The applications received for representation for the last five years in the requested areas is as follows:
	
		
			  Applications in Civil Rep 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 Leeds North West constituency 76 63 34 39 55 
			 England 182,187 177,309 161,206 171,492 187,738 
			 England and Wales (total) 194,795 189,455 172,420 183,026 199,950

Legal Aid : Employment

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding the Legal Services Commission provided from the legal aid budget for legal help and representation on employment matters in 2008-09; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: Legal aid expenditure on employment matters was £6.4 million in 2008-09. Of this, £6 million was spent on legal help and £0.4 million was spent on legal aid under a legal aid certificate which includes representation.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he intends to answer the letter sent to him by the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on 29 November 2010 with regard to Ms O Osei.

Kenneth Clarke: I replied to the right hon. Member on 11 January. I apologise for the delay in doing so.

Prisons: Drugs

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were charged for possession of  (a) Class A and  (b) Class B drugs in 2009-10.

Crispin Blunt: Data on the number of prisoners charged for possession of drugs are not recorded centrally. To provide it would require a detailed investigation into each local prison record and so would incur disproportionate cost.
	Recorded instead is the number of charges under the Prison Rules for possession of controlled drugs that are proved at adjudication, and the punishments then given. The data are collated and published on a calendar year basis in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics. Data for 2009 is available at:
	www.justice.gov.uk/prisonandprobation.htm
	Data for 2010 will not be available until mid-2011. Data are not differentiated between offences involving Class A and Class B drugs.
	More serious offences such as possession with intent to supply will be referred to the police for investigation and prosecution and so are not included in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics.

Prisons: Employment

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what the average hourly wage is for those who undertake work in prison;
	(2)  how many paid work schemes are operating on the prison estate.

Crispin Blunt: The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained by contacting individual prison establishments at disproportionate cost.
	Prison Service Order 4460 (Prisoners' Pay), a copy of which has been placed in the House Library, sets out minimum rates of pay and requires Governors (and Directors of contracted prisons) to devise local pay schemes that reflect regime priorities of their establishment. A snapshot survey of prisoner pay undertaken in 2007 indicated that the average weekly rate of pay for prisoners undertaking work and other activities was £9.60.
	There is no recognised definition of the term "paid work schemes" for prisoners. Prisoners have access to a range of work depending on the local regime. These include cleaning, catering and laundry work, workshops producing goods for internal and external markets, and workshops run by contractors. Around 450 low risk prisoners in open prisons work outside in individual work placements.

Prisons: Security

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions Ministers in his Department have had with  (a) the Prison Officers' Association and  (b) the Prison Governors' Association on security at HM Prison Ford in the last six months.

Crispin Blunt: Ministers have had no formal discussions with either union about security issues at HMP Ford in the last six months. I spoke to representatives of the POA when I visited HMP Ford on 2 January.

Zahid Mubarek Inquiry

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many recommendations from the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry related to enforced cell sharing have been implemented; what targets have been set for the implementation of the remainder of those recommendations accepted by the Government; and if he will make a statement.

Crispin Blunt: There are 15 recommendations from the Zahid Mubarek inquiry related to enforced cell sharing. Eight of these recommendations have been met in full. The work done on a further six of these recommendations has revealed that further action is either unnecessary or impractical. The remaining recommendation is that enforced cell sharing should be eliminated. The National Offender Management Service remains committed to this as a high priority, and it has been considered as part of each new capacity building programme and project. There is no target for the implementation of this recommendation. We are not in a position to create enough places to be able to address the problem of overcrowding, but remain committed to providing safe, decent and secure places for those in custody.

Zahid Mubarek Inquiry

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will assess the effect of  (a) the closure of (i) Ashwell and (ii) Lancaster Castle prisons and  (b) the re-rolling of Morton Hall prison on the Government's timetable for implementation of recommendation 1 of the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry.

Crispin Blunt: In line with recommendation one of the Zahid Mubarek inquiry, the elimination of enforced cell sharing remains a high priority for the National Offender Management Service.
	Current headroom means that the closure of HMPs Lancaster Castle, Ashwell and Morton Hall, announced on 13 January, are not expected to impact on overall prison crowding levels.

HEALTH

Arthritis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many follow-up consultations for rheumatology services took place in the last 12 months.

Paul Burstow: Data on follow up appointments are not available specifically for rheumatology services.
	Data published by the Department of Health looking on an all speciality basis show that the ratio of subsequent attendance (follow-up) to first out-patient appointment has remained broadly stable over the last three years at around two (subsequent attendances) to one (first out-patient appointment).
	 Source
	Department of Health Monthly Activity Return (MAR) and Quarterly Activity Return

Blood: Contamination

Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with the  (a) Scottish Government,  (b) Welsh Assembly Government and  (c) Northern Ireland Executive on the outcome of the review of support for those affected by contaminated blood products in England; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave the right hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Paul Goggins) on 17 January 2011,  Official Report, column 543W.

Blood: Contamination

Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what factors he took into consideration in the determination of the annual payment at £12,800 for people infected by contaminated blood products who have gone on to develop serious liver disease.

Anne Milton: The factors taken into account are explained in paragraphs 5.7-5.11 of the report of the "Review of the support available to individuals infected with hepatitis C and/or HIV by NHS-supplied blood transfusions or blood products and their dependants", a copy of which has already been placed in the Library.

Bone Marrow Disorders: Donors

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has made an assessment of the optimum size of the British Bone Marrow Registry that is required to meet the needs of the NHS.

Anne Milton: The Department has not made an assessment of the optimum size of the British Bone Marrow Registry. However, as part of its work, the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum, led by NHS Blood and Transplant, found that increasing the number of donors registered would not significantly increase the chances of United Kingdom patients identifying a matched unrelated adult donor.
	Details of the Forum's findings on this issue can be found in Annex 4 of 'The Future of Unrelated Donor Stem Cell Transplantation in the UK' (a copy of the report has already been placed in the Library).

Cancer: Health Services

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what mechanism the review of the Cancer Reform Strategy will seek to improve men's cancer outcomes.

Paul Burstow: "Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer" sets out a range of actions to improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including men. A copy has already been placed in the Library.
	We know that early diagnosis of cancer is crucial to improving outcomes. To tackle late diagnosis, the strategy sets out plans to improve general practitioner (GP) access to diagnostic tests, to support cancer awareness initiatives, to extend our cancer screening programmes and to introduce new screening technologies. The strategy also covers other outcomes, such as improving patient experience.
	With specific reference to improving outcomes in men, the strategy provides an update on the work the Department has commissioned from the Men's Health Forum on improving uptake of bowel cancer screening, noting that a conference is to be held later this month to discuss the findings and to make recommendations to the screening service.
	The strategy also notes that, following a public and stakeholder consultation, the United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has recommended that additional modelling work be undertaken for prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening of men in high risk groups, and that further education of GPs through the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme (PCRMP) should also be taken forward. To ensure that men are well informed about the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer and empowered to request a PSA test if they want one, the UK NSC has asked the Prostate Cancer Advisory Group to explore options for making the PCRMP information more accessible to men.
	I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 22 November 2010,  Official Report, columns 157-58W.

Care Quality Commission: Standards

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the performance of the  (a) Care Quality Commission and  (b) General Dental Council.

Simon Burns: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care, established by the Health and Social Care Act 2008. The Commission is accountable to the Secretary of State for discharging its functions, duties and powers effectively and economically.
	The Department monitors CQC's financial and operational performance and risks at a strategic level through regular formal accountability meetings. It does not assess CQC's inspection or monitoring of individual providers. Regular meetings are also held between Ministers, the Permanent Secretary, the chief executive of the national health service and the chair and chief executive of CQC, as well as meetings at official level.
	The General Dental Council is an independent, statutory body and the Secretary of State for Health has no formal role in assessing its performance. However, the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) makes an annual report to Parliament on the performance of health regulatory bodies, including the General Dental Council. CHRE's most recent report was laid before Parliament on 1 July 2010, and is available in the Library.

Carers: Bromsgrove

Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will assess the level of support provided by carers' centres in Bromsgrove constituency.

Paul Burstow: It is for councils to decide how they support carers' centres in their area.
	In addition, central Government recognise the importance of carers and are keen to ensure that we focus on the key activities that will make the greatest impact on improving carers' lives. 'Recognised, valued and supported: Next steps for the Carers Strategy', published on 25 November 2010, sets out the priorities for action over the next four years. The four key priorities are:
	Supporting those with caring responsibilities to identify themselves as carers at an early stage, recognising the value of their contribution and involving them from the outset both in designing local care provision and in planning individual care packages;
	Enabling those with caring responsibilities to fulfil their educational and employment potential;
	Personalised support for carers and those they support, enabling them to have a family and community life;
	Supporting carers to remain mentally and physically well.
	The Department will provide additional funding of £400 million to the national health service over the next four years to enable more carers to take breaks from their caring responsibilities.
	The Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2011-12 says that:
	"It has not always been apparent how funding to support carers has been used in each PCT. The Spending Review has made available additional funding in PCT baselines to support the provision of breaks for carers. PCTs should pool budgets with local authorities to provide carers' breaks, as far as possible, via direct payments or personal health budgets. For 2011/12, PCTs should agree policies, plans and budgets to support carers with local authorities and local carers' organisations, and make them available to local people."
	The Department have also made up to £6 million available for general practitioner (GP) training, to increase their awareness and understanding of carers' health needs so that they can receive appropriate support.
	The Department for Education announced earlier in December that they are providing £800 million over the next four years for short breaks for parent carers of disabled children as part of the new Early Intervention Grant. The Government will be providing £198 million, £202 million, £206 million and £210 million for short breaks over the next four years. This figure includes the previously announced recycled Child Trust Fund money of at least £20 million each year. The Early Intervention Grant is not ring-fenced and it will be for local authorities to determine how they use that resource to best effect, including what services would be funded for families with disabled children.

Cataracts: Surgery

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that visual acuity tests are not used to control access to cataract operations for patients.

Simon Burns: Primary care trusts are responsible for service commissioning, taking into account the available evidence and the needs of the local population. The NHS Constitution gives patients a right to expect local funding decisions to be made rationally after a proper consideration of the available evidence.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Brighton

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the city of Brighton and Hove were diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis in each year since 2007.

Paul Burstow: This information is not collected centrally. However, the hon. Member may wish to contact Brighton and Hove Primary Care Trust directly for local information on the number of people diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.

Cord Blood

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to increase the collection of blood stem cells from umbilical cords;
	(2)  what recent steps his Department has taken on the collection of umbilical cord stem cells;
	(3)  what recent representations he has received on increasing the provision of blood stem cells for transplants;

Anne Milton: The Department has agreed business plans with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHS BT), who manage the NHS Cord Blood Banking service to increase the size of the bank to 20,000 stored units by 2013. The units are available to all NHS patients.
	In 2010, the Department commissioned a review of unrelated donor stem cell transplantation in the United Kingdom, including cost and health economic analysis. The UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum, led by NHSBT produced a report, "The Future of Unrelated Donor Stem Cell Transplantation in the UK" (copies of which have already been placed in the Library) on 1 December 2010.
	The Government are currently considering the report and will be producing a formal response in due course.

Departmental Redundancy

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of redundancy payments to staff of primary care trusts under his proposals for reform of the NHS.

Simon Burns: The costs of the proposals for reform to the national health service are contained in pages 11-14 of the co-ordinating document for the impact assessments and equality impact assessments, published alongside the Health and Social Care Bill on 19 January. The documents have been placed in the Library.

Departmental Working Conditions

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's policy is on  (a) the space provided per employee,  (b) home working and  (c) hot desking; how many employees it has on average per desk; and how much space on average there is per employee.

Simon Burns: The Government Property Unit mandates space standards for all Government Departments. The current space standard is eight square metres per employee.
	All Department staff are eligible to apply for home working. However, staff cannot be compelled to work from home. Nor do they have an automatic right to home working which for existing and new staff is at management discretion based on guidance with Human Resources involvement.
	All work desks in the Department's buildings can be used as hot-desks subject to directorate and other local needs. The Department has also made a number of designated corporate hot-desks available across its estate. These are used on a first come, first served basis.
	Information on the Department's employees per desk and space per employee is published annually in the State of the Estate Annual Report. The last report was published in March 2010 and can be accessed at:
	www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/SOFTE_brochure.pdf

Diabetes: Children

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of obese children aged under 10 years who had type 2 diabetes in  (a) England,  (b) Leicestershire and  (c) Leicester in the latest period for which figures are available.

Paul Burstow: The information requested for Leicestershire and Leicester is not available.
	In 2009 the national prevalence figure for obesity among children aged 2-10 years was 14.4 per cent%. In the same year there were 328 children in England aged 0-17 years with a recorded diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. An analysis combining the three elements requested at a national level is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Drugs: Care Homes

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to reduce the misuse of neuroleptic drugs in residential homes.

Paul Burstow: The Department is committed to taking action in support of a reduction in the overall use of antipsychotic drugs (including neuroleptics) for those with dementia in care homes and other settings by two thirds by November 2011. A reduction in the use of antipsychotics is included as one of four key priority areas for improving the quality of care for people with dementia and their carers in our new outcomes focused implementation plan for the National Dementia Strategy. The National Director for Dementia, Professor Alistair Burns is providing clinical leadership for the National Dementia Strategy and he is supporting the national health service and social care to safely reduce antipsychotic use and to drive up the quality of care provided overall. He is also leading work to ensure the development of focused training for all health and social care staff involved in dementia care.
	Data collected as part of the national audit of dementia services commissioned by the Department will be used to drive progress in reducing prescribing rates for antipsychotic drugs. The audit is being undertaken by the NHS Information Centre and the first results are expected in spring 2011.

Healthcare Science

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the timetable is for conducting the evidence-based, cost-benefit risk analysis which his Department plans to undertake to inform the appropriate model of regulation for the healthcare science work force.

Anne Milton: The cost-benefit risk analysis is expected to be carried out during spring 2011.

NHS Blood and Transplant Strategic Forum

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he plans to take in response to the recommendations of the NHS Blood and Transplant Strategic Forum on stem cell transplantation published in December 2010;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the NHS Blood and Transplant Strategic Forum report on stem cell transplantation published in December 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The Department welcomes the report of the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum. We are now working in collaboration with the national health service, NHS Blood and Transplant and the Anthony Nolan Trust, to develop improved partnership working and consider how the findings and recommendations in the report can be best translated into real service improvements. The Government will produce a response in due course.

NHS: Official Hospitality

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much strategic health authorities spent on hospitality in each year since 2006.

Simon Burns: The information requested is not held centrally.

NHS: Training

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many days' mandatory training those working in the NHS are required to undertake each year; and for what purpose in each case.

Anne Milton: National health service employees are not required to undertake a set amount of mandatory training time every year. Information on this issue is not collected centrally or by strategic health authorities.
	Responsibility to provide good outcomes for patients and staff in the areas of mandatory training such as fire safety, health awareness and manual handling, best resides with the individual employer.
	For those NHS employees subject to statutory professional regulation, there may be specific continuing professional development requirements that they need to meet in order to maintain their registration. These requirements are set by the independent professional regulators and differ across the professions.

NHS: Visits Abroad

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much strategic health authorities spent on overseas travel since 2006.

Simon Burns: The information requested is not held centrally.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms he has put in place to ensure that those claiming free prescriptions are in possession of valid medical exemption certificates where required.

Simon Burns: Free prescriptions may be claimed for a number of reasons.
	Patients who want a medical exemption certificate are required to apply to the NHS Business Services Authority. Applications must be countersigned by the general practitioner (GP), hospital or service doctor, or at the GPs discretion a member of the practice staff who has access to the relevant patient records. Medical exemption certificates are valid for five years, after which they must be renewed.
	When a prescription is dispensed, pharmacists are required to carry out a "point of dispensing" check of whether the patient has a valid exemption from prescription charges. If the patient does not present the required evidence, a prescription can still be dispensed free of charge, but the pharmacist is required to cross the "evidence not seen" box on the prescription form, in order that checks can be made at a later stage. If a patient does not provide evidence of exemption when the prescription is dispensed, he or she may subsequently be randomly selected for verification checks (by the primary care trust, local counter fraud section). At this point the patient would need to provide the relevant evidence or possibly face a penalty charge.

Social Services: Learning Disability

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to improve the provision of support services for children and adults with learning difficulties in  (a) the West Midlands and  (b) nationally.

Paul Burstow: The Government remain committed to driving change for adults and children with learning disabilities. Valuing People Now has set priorities until March 2011 of improving outcomes for adults with learning disabilities and their family carers around health, housing and employment. The Government will continue for the future to drive greater personalisation and improved choice and control to improve outcomes for people with learning disabilities and will work with people with learning disabilities and their family carers to ensure that their views are included in the future transformation of the national health service and the new social care vision and across other policies like employment and housing.
	The Department is collaborating with the Department for Education ahead of the publication of the Green Paper on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. The Green Paper will explore how we can achieve public services which are centred on the needs of families and children, joining up support from education, health and social care, particularly for those with the most severe and complex needs and at key transitions.
	NHS West Midlands undertook a review of Child and Young People Disability Services last year, including learning disabilities. Following these reviews each primary care trust developed an action plan with the local authority. Progress is currently being reviewed.

Stem Cells: Medical Treatments

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the average length of time after submission of a donor search request was for a blood stem cell transplant to be undertaken by the NHS in respect of each ethnic group in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the average time from submission of a blood stem cell transplant donor search request and a transplant taking place with respect to  (a) the British Bone Marrow Registry,  (b) the Anthony Nolan register and  (c) imported sources in the latest period for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: As part of its work, the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum, led by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) examined in detail donor search to transplant times. The Government are currently considering the Forum's report and recommendations and will produce a response in due course.
	Data from the British Bone Marrow Registry, run by NHSBT, show an average (mean) time of 160 days (median time of 135 days) between a donor search request and a stem cell transplant being carried out. It is important to note that this period of time can be affected by a wide range of factors, including changes in the health of patients. The data are not broken down by ethnic group.

Stem Cells: Medical Treatments

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many NHS patients waiting for a blood stem cell transplant died in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many blood stem cell transplants were conducted by the NHS in each of the last two years;
	(3)  how many blood stem cell transplants were conducted by the NHS using donors  (a) on the British Bone Marrow Registry,  (b) on the Anthony Nolan register and  (c) from abroad in each of the last five years.

Anne Milton: Data on the number of blood stem cell transplants conducted by the national health service and the number of NHS patients that die waiting for a blood stem cell transplant are not collated centrally.
	The following table shows the number of initial stem cell transplants (although in some cases further transplants are needed) conducted in the United Kingdom in 2008 and 2009. Data are not yet available for 2010.
	
		
			  Stem Cell Source  2008( 1)  2009( 1) 
			 Patient-derived stem cells (autologous) 1,560 1,623 
			 Related donor-derived stem cells 523 451 
			 Unrelated donor-derived stem cells 563 661 
			 Cord blood stem cells 84 88 
			 Total 2,730 2,823 
			 (1) Figures collated by British Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BSBMT). It is important to note that submission of the data by member transplant centres is voluntary, and therefore may not be completely comprehensive. 
		
	
	The following table shows the total number of stem cell donors (including cord blood) provided by registry.
	
		
			   Imported( 1)  BBMR( 2)  AN( 3) 
			 2006 212 66 202 
			 2007 319 65 221 
			 2008 357 59 215 
			 2009 485 77 230 
			 2010 505 67 233 
			 (1) Data provided by Anthony Nolan. (2) Data provided by NHS Blood and Transplant, which is responsible for the British Bone Marrow Registry. (3) Data provided by Anthony Nolan.  Note: Figures given for donors provided include 2(nd) transplants, and donations not transplanted due to factors such as deterioration in the health of the patient.

Stem Cells: Medical Treatments

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the average cost to the NHS of importing blood stem cells for transplantation;
	(2)  how many blood stem cell transplant donations were imported from each country in the last year for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: In 2010, the Department commissioned a review of unrelated donor stem cell transplantation in the United Kingdom, including cost and health economic analysis. The UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum, led by NHS Blood and Transplant produced a report, 'The Future of Unrelated Donor Stem Cell Transplantation in the UK' (copies of which have already been placed in the Library) on 1 December 2010.
	Annex 4 of the report states that in 2009, the following adult stem cell donations, as shown in the table, were imported to the UK.
	
		
			  Country  Number imported  Cost per donation (£) 
			 Germany (ZKRD) 187 10,500 
			 United States (US) (NMDP) 131 17,222 
			 Australia 11 13,500 
			 France 8 11,273 
			 Canada 7 16,451 
			 Israel 7 12,903 
			 Cyprus 6 15,000 
			 Portugal 6 11,363 
			 Italy 5 11,902 
			 Other 18 - 
		
	
	Annex 4 of the report states that in 2009, the following umbilical cord blood units, as shown in the following table, were imported to the UK.
	
		
			  Country  Number imported  Cost per donation (£) 
			 US (NMDP) 33 36,000 
			 US (New York) 16 23,000 
			 Barcelona 14 19,593 
			 Dusseldorf 13 18,286 
			 Other 13 -

Swine Flu: Death

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the difference is in the number of projected deaths from swine flu between the Government's vaccination policy and a policy to vaccinate all those aged under five.

Anne Milton: The Government's policy on influenza vaccination is informed by the expert advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The policy focuses on offering the vaccine to those at greatest risk from the effects of influenza. JCVI does not recommend that children under the age of five outside the at-risk groups should be vaccinated.
	On 30 December, JCVI met to review its advice on seasonal influenza vaccination. It issued the following statement:
	"JCVI was presented with data on the current seasonal influenza epidemiology, seroepidemological data collected during the 2009-10 pandemic, modelling of the impact of vaccination strategies during the pandemic, data on the effectiveness of influenza vaccines in the young and vaccine uptake and safety data.
	JCVI noted that a large proportion of those individuals with severe disease are in recognised risk groups for influenza but were not vaccinated. JVCI re-iterated its previous advice that all individuals in risk groups should be vaccinated as soon as possible, particularly those aged less than 65 years.
	The committee considered the issue of offering vaccination to healthy children either 0-4 years and/or 5-15 years of age. However, although there is a high incidence of influenza-like illness currently in these age groups, a significant proportion of this is due to other viruses such Respiratory Syncytial Virus. In addition, only a very small proportion of those with severe disease are in these age groups. Based on previous seasonal influenza epidemiology it would be hoped that influenza circulation will have subsided within a month. We do not believe that seasonal or pandemic vaccine should be used for these or other healthy person groups. The greatest gain will be achieved in increasing vaccine uptake in the clinical risk groups."
	No projections have been made of the number of deaths from swine influenza infection that may be prevented during the current influenza season by the current vaccination policy or an extension of that policy to include children under five years of age or other healthy age groups. Such projections, if conducted, would be highly uncertain as they would depend on a number of factors that are unknown or uncertain including, the existing immunity to swine influenza infection in different age groups of the population, the vaccination coverage in different groups of the population and how quickly immunity would accrue in these groups, and the effectiveness of vaccination.
	As with all vaccination programmes, JCVI will keep this matter under review.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will take steps to ensure that increasing the speed of decision-making on family asylum cases will not affect the fairness and effectiveness of such decisions.

Damian Green: The Asylum Improvement Project, which was established by the Government in the summer, is exploring new ways to improve the asylum system to speed up the processing of all applications, including family applications, while improving the quality of decision making, achieving greater productivity and efficiency in the asylum process and better, more sustainable, decisions.
	We are also reviewing the decision making process for family cases as part of the review into ending the detention of children for immigration purposes and we are working with corporate partners to improve the process.

Asylum: Children

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers who arrived in the country as unaccompanied minors and have been removed or detained with a view to removal in the last 12 months had been living in the UK for more than  (a) three,  (b) five and  (c) 10 years.

Damian Green: A breakdown of the requested information is listed as follows:
	
		
			  Time resident in United Kingdom  UASC and former UASC removed( 1, 2)  Former UASC detained( 1, 2, 3, 4) 
			 0 to 3 years 124 137 
			 3 to 5 years 65 38 
			 5-10 years 86 19 
			 10+ years 5 4 
			 Total 280 198 
			 (1) UASC stands for unaccompanied asylum seeking children. (2) Time period covered, 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2010. (3) Data exclude detained individuals subsequently removed. (4) Of the 198 individuals detained, none were under 18-years-old.  Notes: 1. All figures quoted are internal management information only and are subject to change. 2. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.

Borders: Personal Records

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent progress she has made on the e-Borders programme.

Damian Green: Since the e-Borders contract with Raytheon Systems was terminated in July 2010, the e-Borders programme has been pursuing a strategy to secure existing live systems and assets and to procure services to replace those due under the original contract. The contract with IBM for the Semaphore system was novated to UKBA on 25 November 2010 and the Programme is on course to meet the Home Office Business plan target to transition remaining services from Raytheon Systems Ltd by April 2011.
	We have engaged with a number of alternative providers to deliver the key benefits that the contract with Raytheon did not deliver. Work in designing the system capability to provide that benefit is now under way.
	E-Borders is currently covering around 55% of passenger and crew movements into and out of the UK.

Detainees

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) men and  (b) women entered the detained fast track procedure in each year since 2005; and what proportion of (i) men and (ii) women entering the detained fast track procedure were granted leave to remain in each such year.

Damian Green: The information requested is provided in the following table.
	
		
			  Applications accepted into the detained fast track process and percentage granted leave broken down by gender by year of application 2005-10 
			   Accepted  Granted (percentage) 
			  2005( 1)   
			 Male 1,754 8 
			 Female 381 12 
			 Total 2,135 8 
			
			  2006   
			 Male 1,565 7 
			 Female 463 15 
			 Total 2,028 9 
			
			  2007   
			 Male 897 5 
			 Female 523 12 
			 Total 1,420 8 
			
			  2008   
			 Male 1,283 7 
			 Female 517 13 
			 Total 1,800 9 
			
			  2009   
			 Male 1,674 7 
			 Female 510 11 
			 Total 2,184 8 
			
			  2010   
			 Male 2,061 7 
			 Female 531 11 
			 Total 2,592 8 
			 (1 )2005 data pre-dates the current Asylum Process so there may be limitations to data quality.  Note: All figures are internal management information only and are subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.

Detainees :Sexuality

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration she has given to adding complex sexuality-related persecution claims to the list of claims unlikely to be accepted in the suitability guidance note for routing into the detained fast track procedure.

Damian Green: Entry to the detained fast track procedure is determined by reference to published policy available on the UKBA website. There are no plans to exclude applicants from the detained fast track process because their claims appear to relate to complex sexuality-related persecution.
	However, there is an existing condition in published policy that cases may enter the process only if they are amenable to a quick, fair and sustainable decision. If, at the time of application, it is apparent that this condition cannot be fulfilled the applicant will not be entered into the process.

Entry Clearances: Appeals

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her most recent estimate is of the average cost of an appeal against refusal of entry clearance.

Damian Green: The cost of immigration appeals is split between the Tribunals Service and UKBA. The majority of the cost falls to the Tribunals Service.
	Most recent UKBA estimates (2009-10) suggest the cost of an appeal against refusal of entry clearance ranges typically between £200 and £500 per case. This unit will vary depending on the complexity of the case, with family visit visa appeals generally falling towards the lower end of this estimate.
	The most recent estimate (2008-09) from the Tribunals Service indicate that a family visit visa appeal costs, on average, £504 and an appeal against other entry clearance decisions costs, on average, £577. These unit costs are based upon a broad estimate for the average cost and as such will vary depending upon the complexity of individual cases.

Entry Clearances: Families

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for family visitor visas there were in each year since 1997; how many of those were granted in each such year; how many times appeals were raised against refusals of such applications in each year; how many of those appeals were upheld in each year; and what her most recent estimate is of the average cost to her Department of such an appeal in the latest period for which figures are available.

Damian Green: With regard to family visit visas, the number of  (a) applications received;  (b) visas issued;  (c) appeals received; and  (d) appeals allowed, in each calendar year since 2004, is shown in the following table. This information is not available for previous years.
	The cost of immigration appeals are split between the Tribunals Service and UKBA. The majority of the cost falls to the Tribunals Service.
	The cost of immigration appeals are split between the Tribunals Service and UKBA. The majority of the cost falls to the Tribunals Service.
	Most recent UKBA estimates (2009-10) suggest the cost of an appeal against refusal of entry clearance ranges typically between £200 and £500 per case. This unit will vary depending on the complexity of the case, with family visit visa appeals generally falling towards the lower end of this estimate.
	The most recent estimate (2008-09) from the Tribunals Service indicate that a family visit visa appeal costs, on average, £504 and an appeal against other entry clearance decisions costs, on average, £577. These unit costs are based upon a broad estimate for the average cost and as such will vary depending upon the complexity of individual cases.
	
		
			  Family visit visas 
			   Applications received  Visas issued  Appeals received  Appeals allowed 
			 2004 354,217 248,153 29,697 5,685 
			 2005 457,479 331,099 35,724 8,804 
			 2006 502,032 376,375 57,540 18,328 
			 2007 473,797 354,338 62,609 18,081 
			 2008 414,695 313,392 55,965 19,663 
			 2009 426,846 332,817 53,882 20,216 
			 January to September 2010 423,251 350,677 37,657 16,802 
			  Notes: 1. These data are based on management information. They are provisional and subject to change. 2. Data prior to 2007 may not be complete.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many appeals against refusal of entry clearance were lodged by those who had applied for student visas in each year since 2000; and how many of those appeals were upheld in each year.

Damian Green: The number of appeals against the refusal of student visas that were (a) lodged and (b) allowed, in each calendar year since 2004, is shown in the following table. This information is not available for previous years.
	
		
			   Appeals lodged  Appeals allowed 
			 2004 13,315 478 
			 2005 14,181 2,202 
			 2006 25,141 6,562 
			 2007 33,067 7,452 
			 2008 37,125 8,052 
			 2009 (1)19,699 (2)9,645 
			 (1) Since March 2009, long-term student applications have been considered under tier four of the points-based system and do not attract a full right of appeal. However, an unsuccessful applicant is able to lodge an appeal on residual grounds, namely under provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998 and Race Relations Act 1976. (2) The figures show that in 2009, a total of 9,645 appeals in this category were allowed. Many of the decisions to which these appeals relate are likely to have been made in 2008 when there was a significant increase in long-term student applications prior to the introduction of the points-based system.  Notes: 1. This data is based on Management Information. It has not been published and should be treated as provisional. 2. The data before 2007 may not be complete.

Fixed Penalties

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fixed penalty notice categories have replaced comparable criminal offence categories in the last five years.

James Brokenshire: No fixed penalty notices (FPN) for motoring offences categories have replaced comparable offence categories in the last five years. There are around 200 fixed penalty traffic offences and for every one of these the police have the option of prosecuting rather than issuing a FPN.
	Statistics on fixed penalty notices issued, broken down by offence category are published in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Police Powers and Procedures, 2008/09" and statistics on prosecutions for motoring offences are published in the supplementary volumes of Justice Publication "Criminal Statistics-2008/09". Copies of both publications are available in the Library of the House.
	The only offence that has been added to the penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme for non-motoring offences in the last five years is the offence of cannabis possession which was added on 28 January 2009. Currently there are 25 other offences available under the scheme. A full list of PND offences can be found at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/penalty-notices/penalty-notice-introduction11
	All offences available under the scheme can still attract all existing disposals. PNDs are just one of a number of options available to the police which range from an informal warning, to a formal out-of-court disposal, to charging a suspect and prosecuting them at court. The nature and the seriousness of the offence, the harm caused and the offender's circumstances and previous criminal history will all be relevant to the police officer's decision on the most appropriate criminal justice response.
	Statistics on PNDs issued, broken down by offence category are published in the Ministry of Justice Criminal Statistics: England and Wales 2009 and can be found at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/criminalannual.htm

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to answer the letter sent to her by the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on 2 December 2010 with regard to Mrs B H Hamah-Ahmeen.

Damian Green: I wrote to the right hon. Member on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 18 January 2011.